Uwe Deffner / Alamy Stock Photo
Criminal Justice
Seeking Relief for the
Wrongfully Convicted
In 2023, the firm partnered with the newly launched New Jersey Innocence Project at Rutgers University to assist New Jersey residents who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes and seek exoneration.
Since 1989, 3,284 individuals have been exonerated in the United States, having collectively lost nearly 30,000 years of their lives incarcerated for crimes that they did not commit. Only 39 of those exonerations have involved New Jersey convictions. Studies estimate that between 1 percent and 6 percent of all criminal cases result in wrongful convictions. Using the conservative estimate of 1 percent, hundreds of innocent individuals remain incarcerated in New Jersey.
To address this injustice, Rutgers University joined the National Innocence Network in 2021 and received hundreds of requests from incarcerated individuals claiming innocence. More than two dozen Lowenstein attorneys stepped up to assist the New Jersey Innocence Project with reviewing and investigating the innocence claims to identify appropriate cases for potential exoneration. Lowenstein will continue working with the project to investigate claims and help innocent people return to their homes and communities.
