Innocence Movements in Asia
Innocence Movements in Asia
Virtual International Conference: Toward A Human Right to Claim Innocence
Nov. 2, 3 and 4, 2022 （US Eastern Time)
Nov. 2, 10:30 AM-noon
Nov. 3, 10:00-11:30 AM
Nov. 4, 9:00-10:30 AM
Register Now!
Overview
The U.S.-Asia Law Institute works to support innocence movements in the United States and Asia. Through our activities we serve as a bridge and a source of mutual collaboration across regions. In addition to hosting delegations and special guests at NYU Law, we also organize an intensive program for participants from Asia to learn about the prevention and redress of wrongful convictions within a comparative context.
About our Program
Read our brochure about five years of our Wrongful Convictions Program.
Preventing and Redressing Wrongful Convictions, informally known as our Wrongful Convictions Program, is one of our longest-running and important programs. Its objective is to increase awareness within the Asian criminal justice community of the root causes of wrongful convictions and measures that can help prevent them, resulting in more fair and accurate outcomes. Each year USALI brings leading U.S. experts to lecture in Asia, and invites more than a dozen Asian legal practitioners and scholars to spend several weeks at USALI for an immersive course on wrongful convictions and the innocence movement. USALI also invites participants in Asian innocence projects to come to NYU as visiting scholars.
+ Program Participant Feedback
“The Wrongful Convictions Program is of great value in that it gives the participants a full picture of how to redress wrongful convictions. All in all, I think it’s very fruitful and inspiring for everyone who are interested in wrongful conviction and judicial system reform to participate into this program.” — Weijing Huang (2018)
"This is a very meaningful study, which broadened my horizons and increased my understanding of the US Criminal Procedure Law. China and the United States face similar problems in the prevention of wrongful convictions...Thanks to the U.S.-Asian Law Institute, I hope that there will be opportunities to continue communication in the future.” — Chenlei Min (2018)
“People who don't believe that there are wrongful convictions in the world should participate in this project.” — Program Participant (2018)
“This programme is very helpful for us to understand the formation, prevention and correction of wrongful convictions in United States. Participation in this project also contributes to a deeper understanding of the prevention and correction of miscarriages of justice in various countries concerned. The implementation of the programme has played an important role in the development of cooperative research and the promotion of better criminal justice in all countries.” — Kuibin Zhu (2018)
Program Impact
In addition to deepening participants’ understanding of the issue area, the program helps to spur new scholarship and dialogue. Following the completion of the program, many of our participants go on to write articles or other publications inspired by their research. Learn about the work inspired by this program from China, Taiwan, and Japan.
Recent USALI Activity
Asia-US Wrongful Convictions Roundtable
Members of innocence organizations and lawyers who represent wrongfully convicted persons in the US and East Asia gathered online on December 9, 2021 to share their challenges and achievements over the past year. It was the second year in a row that the U.S.-Asia Law Institute hosted an online wrongful convictions roundtable. Panelists from the US, China, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand discussed the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their clients and their work, the impact of government misconduct in creating wrongful convictions, the role of prosecutors in correcting them, and recent developments in their jurisdictions. Read more.
Download program brochure and watch event recording.
Trends in the Innocence Movement in Asia and the U.S.
On December 8 2020, US-Asia Law Institute held an online webinar featuring the recent developments in the “innocence” work in both East Asia and the United States. This event invited experts from China, Japan, Taiwan and the U.S. to share with the audience the significant trends in exonerating the innocent, with special focuses on the exclusion of junk science and the positive and negative roles played by prosecutors.
Download program brochure & presenters’ slides.
This event was co-sponsored by The Innocence Project, The Innocence Network, UCI Newkirk Center for Science & Society, Taiwan Innocence Project, Innocence Project Japan and xiyuanwant.net and attended by more than 100 participants from East & Southeast Asia, North America, and Africa.
Exonerated! From Central Park to East Asia
On October 8, 2019 the U.S.-Asia Law Institute, Asia Law Society, and Center of the Administration of Criminal Law at NYU co-hosted an event about how wrongful convictions are being corrected and prevented. Guests included Kevin Richardson, one of the Central Park five exonerees, and Sarah Burns, whose award-winning 2012 PBS documentary, The Central Park Five, first told the story of the Central Park Five on film. (The story of the Central Park Five has also been dramatized in a recent Netflix mini-series by Ava Duvernay, When They See Us). Joining them were three distinguished scholars and lawyers from Asia who introduced the work of innocence movements in mainland China, Japan and Taiwan: Dr. Lena Yueying Zhong, a criminologist at City University of Hong Kong; Chen Yu-Ning, partner at HL & Partners, and the first director of the Taiwan Innocence Project; and Dr. Akiko Kogawara, associate professor of law at Ryukoku University and chief of the Forensic Science Unit at its Criminology Research Center. Professor Rachel Barkow, director of the NYU Law School Center on the Administration of Criminal Law, made closing remarks.
Recent Activity
Photos from NYU Activities & Events
