John,

In 1993, shortly after we started our tiny Innocence Project clinic, Barry went on The Phil Donahue Show to talk about our work and ask wrongly convicted people to write the Innocence Project at Cardozo Law School for help.

We anticipated that we’d get maybe a few hundred letters, but what happened instead shocked us. We received thousands of requests for help. There were mail bins stacked floor to ceiling in the office — a clear sign that there was a serious problem in our criminal legal system.

Three decades later, we’re still fighting to fix those problems and change the system, and we couldn’t do it without your support.

We’re coming up on the Innocence Project’s biggest fundraising deadline of the year, so we’re asking you to make a donation right now to help ensure we start the new year with the resources we need to keep fighting for justice for as many people as possible.

Since 1992, we have been committed to helping free innocent people and transforming the system that wrongly convicted them, and with your help we’ve had a lot of victories. The Innocence Project has helped free more than 241 innocent people who spent a collective 3,754 years wrongly incarcerated — 194 of whom were exonerated by DNA evidence.

We know that these stories of innocent people going to prison for crimes they did not commit are all too common, and we are dedicated to building a future without wrongful convictions. We need your help to continue to expand this important work and make an even greater difference on behalf of the innocent.

Please make a donation before our end-of-year deadline. Your support will go directly to helping free innocent people for years to come.

With a heart full of gratitude and appreciation for this community, we wish you very happy holidays and a happy New Year.

Thank you,

Barry Scheck
Co-Founder and Special Counsel
Innocence Project

Peter Neufeld
Co-Founder and Special Counsel
Innocence Project