Our Mission
We are driven to free the innocent of Delaware and meaningfully reform the system that wrongfully convicted them.
About Us
Innocence Project Delaware was established in 2018 as the only organization focusing on claims of actual innocence for incarcerated Delawareans.
Innocence Project Delaware provides pro bono services to investigate and seek relief for claims of wrongful conviction.
We also look to remedy the causes of wrongful convictions: official misconduct, misapplication of forensic science, eyewitness misidentification, and prejudice. When not working with specific individuals, Innocence Project Delaware helps educate the public about potential criminal justice reforms related to wrongful conviction as well as access to justice.
Our Why
Wrongful conviction occurs when a factually innocent person is convicted of a crime they did not commit. It is a symptom of a broken criminal legal system that must be fixed.
Since 1989, more than 3,500 wrongfully convicted people have been exonerated in the United States, including 190 who were sentenced to death for crimes they did not commit. That number continues to grow.
According to the Prison Policy Initiative, Delaware’s incarceration rates stand out internationally. The incarceration rates are not limited to the most populous cities, people all over the state are being locked up at high rates.
Black people in Delaware are incarcerated at a rate 5.4 times higher than White people.
As of 2022, 21.2% of the population of Delaware consists of Black people. Yet in the Delaware prison system, 60% of the people who are incarcerated are Black. This includes 65% of people serving life without parole sentences, and 63% of pretrial detainees in Delaware.
In Delaware, the cost of incarcerating older people is incredibly high, and their risk of reincarceration is incredibly low, yet 15% of people in Delaware prisons are over the age of 55.
