The Honorable ________________
United States Senate
Washington DC, 20510
or
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington DC 20515
Dear [Senator or Representative] __________________:
[Thank you for] [I hope you’ll consider] cosponsoring the Innocence Protection Act,
which may come before you soon for a vote. It is desperately needed to ensure fairness,
safeguard the integrity of the criminal justice system, protect the innocent – and to protect
the public, since every wrongful conviction means the real criminal remains at large.
Especially important is Title II, providing grants to states to improve their capital defense
systems and establish standards for capital defense representation. As important as the
DNA provisions are, biological evidence exists in only a small proportion of cases. It is
obvious that the same types of errors exposed in DNA cases – like mistaken eyewitness
identification, false confessions, forensic error, or police or prosecutorial misconduct –
occur equally in other types of cases. Competent, adequately funded defense
representation is a more comprehensive solution – and it offers the best hope of reducing
unnecessary appeals and reversals.
Also, please support the only logical enforcement mechanism for those instances where
adequate representation is not provided: telling the courts which conduct post-conviction
review not to accord the usual presumption of correctness to factual findings, or the usual
“procedural default” ban to legal issues that counsel neglected to raise. Every person on
trial for his or her life should have at least one fair chance to present a defense. This is a
simple alternative to costly and time-consuming lawsuits against the state.
Of critical importance is a provision added by the Senate Judiciary Committee
authorizing student loan forgiveness for young lawyers who make a commitment to serve
as a prosecutor or public defender. This same program is available to Justice Department
lawyers, and yet the need to recruit and retain the most competent and principled lawyers
is nowhere greater than at the state level, where so many of the shameful breaches by
both defenders and prosecutors have occurred.
[insert personal experience re: impact of student loan burdens on service as public
defender]
[If letter is to a House Member who does not sit on the Judiciary Committee: I hope you
will ask House Judiciary Committee Chairman Sensenbrenner and other Committee
members to send the Innocence Protection Act to the full House for a vote. Also, please
convey your strong support for the Senate’s student loan forgiveness provisions, whether
they arise on the House floor or in conference with the Senate.]
I appreciate your consideration of these critically important issues which have such a
disproportionate impact on minority and low-income people in our justice system.