I firmly believe that our justice system will only change when we are all willing to speak the truth.

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John —

Today is my first day at the Innocence Project, and I am ready to go!

After a 27-year career in criminal justice reform — including serving as the President and Attorney-in-Charge of the Office of the Appellate Defender, Inc. and the Litigation Director for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. — I’m excited and honored to join the extraordinary team at the Innocence Project and to serve as their new Executive Director.

Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They’ve never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they’ve exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable.

I share the Innocence Project’s commitment to speaking truth to power. I know that we have to be fearless in order to ensure that no more innocent people are swept into the criminal legal system, sentenced to prison or condemned to death based on unfair, arbitrary or unreliable laws, practices or procedures. And, today, I understand that we must confront the appalling reality that a disproportionate number of the 375 people exonerated by DNA since 1989 are Black and Latinx. But, again, the Innocence Project does not shy away from the hard cases. When and where race contributes to wrongful conviction, we will confront, challenge, and correct it.

Today is Day One for me, and I could not be more excited. It also happens to be International Literacy Day, so I put together a list of four books that I think are required reading for everyone who cares about justice. I also added one that I just really enjoyed. Take a moment to check it out, and find out more about my work and how I see the Innocence Project’s work evolving over time:

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We have a lot of work ahead of us, and I’m so glad to have you all by my side in the fight for the innocent.

Thanks,

Christina Swarns
Executive Director
Innocence Project
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