How fighting wrongful convictions has led to criminal justice reform:
Vermont Business Magazine Saint Michael’s College will host a senior staff attorney from the Innocence Project, a national nonprofit focused on exonerating people who have been wrongfully convicted and transforming the systems responsible for unjust incarceration.
Jane Pucher will speak during an event on Monday, October 17 titled “The Role of Innocence in Criminal Legal Reform.” Her talk is free and open to the public, and it is being put on by the College’s Criminology Department.
Pucher will speak about her path to the Innocence Project, where she started work in 2016, and some of the cases she and her colleagues have undertaken. Pucher takes on post-conviction cases across the U.S. for people seeking access to DNA testing and relief from wrongful convictions.
Pucher also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Cardozo Law School and supervises the school’s Innocence Project clinic. She is a 2011 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and received her undergraduate degree from Columbia University in 2008. Before joining the Innocence Project, she served as a public defender and supervising attorney with the Bronx Defenders.
The Innocence Project has helped exonerate 375 people in the U.S. using DNA testing since its founding in 1992 – including 21 people who spent time on death row. The cases have resulted in law changes, greater scrutiny of police and prosecutorial practices, and accountability for some of the prosecutorial misconduct that resulted in wrongful convictions. The group’s goal is to create a more fair, compassionate and equitable system of justice for everyone.
If you go:
When: Monday, October 17, 2022, at 5 p.m.
Where: Roy Event Room, Dion Family Student Center, Saint Michael’s College
Cost: Free
Information for media members:
Members of the media are welcome to attend the event. Jane Pucher may also be available by request to speak to reporters before or after her talk. Please contact Saint Michael’s College Associate Director of Public Relations Liz Murray ([email protected]) to coordinate interviews and other press needs and to RSVP to the event.
About Saint Michael’s College
Saint Michael's College, founded on principles of social justice and leading lives of purpose and consequence, is a selective, Catholic college just outside Burlington, Vermont, one of the country's best college towns. Located between the Green Mountains and Lake Champlain, our closely connected community guarantees housing all four years and delivers internationally respected liberal arts together with an innovative Purposeful Learning Program, preparing students for fulfilling careers and meaningful lives. Young adults here grow intellectually, socially, and morally, learning to be responsible for themselves, each other, and their world.
COLCHESTER, VT – Saint Michael’s College www.smcvt.edu
