President Obama praised for helping the wrongfully convicted

(Special from North-StarNews Today) — The Innocence Project has praised President Barack Obama, his executive staff, leaders throughout federal agencies and a bipartisan Congress for policies supporting the innocent and the wrongfully convicted.

Maddy deLone, executive director of the Innocence Project, touched on a number of things that President Obama and others have done to help the wrongfully convicted rebuild their lives.

They include strengthening forensic science by establishing the National Commission on Forensic Science, reauthorization of the Justice for All Act, which improves access to post-conviction DNA in federal cases and reauthorizes federal funding for programs that help reveal and remediate wrongful convictions.

In addition, the Obama Administration pushed passage of the Wrongful Conviction Tax Relief Act of 2015, barring federal taxation of compensation awarded to individuals who have been wrongfully convicted. President Obama also convened the President’s Task Force on 21th Century Policing, which encouraged the police to adopt scientifically supported eyewitness identification procedures. It also urges law enforcement to acknowledge their role in injustices and discrimination.

“While these are major accomplishments during an especially challenging political climate, there is still much work to be done,” deLone said.

The Innocence Project, which is based in New York, exonerates the wrongfully convicted through DNA evidence. There have been 347 DNA exonerations, according to the Innocence Project. It is not known what period this covers.

This article originally published in the January 16, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.