''After Innocence'' is a 2005 American documentary film about men who were exonerated from
death row
Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...
by
DNA evidence. Directed by
Jessica Sanders
Jessica Sanders is an American producer, director and screenwriter.
Accolades
Together with Freida Lee Mock
Freida Lee Mock is an Academy Award-winning American filmmaker, director, screenwriter and producer. She is a co-founder of the Ame ...
, the film took the Special Jury Prize at the 2005
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
.
The featured exonerees are Dennis Maher; Calvin Willis; Scott Hornoff; Wilton Dedge; Vincent Moto;
Nick Yarris
Nicholas James Yarris (born 1961) is an American writer who spent 22 years on death row in Pennsylvania after being wrongfully convicted of murder.
Prosecution, conviction, and exoneration
Although disputed by some family members, Yarris has sta ...
;
Ronald Cotton; and Herman Atkins. Also featured are
Barry Scheck
Barry Charles Scheck (born September 19, 1949) is an American lawyer. He received national media attention while serving on O. J. Simpson's defense team, collectively dubbed the "Dream Team", helping to win an acquittal in the highly publicize ...
and
Peter Neufeld
Peter J. Neufeld (born July 17, 1950) is an American lawyer, cofounder, with Barry Scheck, of the Innocence Project, and a founding partner in the civil rights law firm Neufeld Scheck & Brustin. Starting from his earliest years as an attorney repr ...
of the
Innocence Project
Innocence Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal organization that is committed to exonerating individuals who have been wrongly convicted, through the use of DNA testing and working to reform the criminal justice system to prevent futur ...
and
Lola Vollen
Laurie Lola Vollen is a scholar and human rights activist. She specializes in the repercussions of large-scale human rights abuses.
Background
Vollen graduated from Princeton in 1978 as a psychology major. of the
Life After Exoneration Program
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy tran ...
.
Awards
*
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
—Special Jury Prize; Grand Jury Prize (nominated)
*
Seattle International Film Festival
The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...
—Women in Cinema Lena Sharpe Award
*
Newport Beach Film Festival
The Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) is an annual film festival in Newport Beach, California, typically held in late April. In 2022, it was announced that the festival have permanently changed its date to be held in October, as the festival beg ...
—Special Jury Prize
*
Independent Film Festival of Boston
The Independent Film Festival Boston is a not for profit film festival in Boston, Massachusetts.
History
The Independent Film Festival Boston (also known as IFFBoston or IFFB) was created in 2003 by the non-profit organization the Independent ...
—Audience Award
*
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is an annual international event dedicated to the theatrical exhibition of non-fiction cinema.
The festival is a program of the Center for Documentary Studies, a non-profit, 501(c)(3) at Duke University. ...
—Content + Intent = Change Award
*
Nantucket Film Festival
The Nantucket Film Festival is a film festival founded in 1996 which focuses on screenwriting. Board members include Donick Cary, Nancy Dubac, Chris Matthews, Kathleen Matthews, Ben Stiller, and Tom Scott.
History
The Nantucket Film Festival ...
—Best Storytelling In A Documentary
See also
*
List of wrongful convictions in the United States
This list of wrongful convictions in the United States includes people who have been legally exonerated, including people whose convictions have been overturned or vacated, and who have not been retried because the charges were dismissed by the s ...
*
Innocence Project
Innocence Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal organization that is committed to exonerating individuals who have been wrongly convicted, through the use of DNA testing and working to reform the criminal justice system to prevent futur ...
*
List of miscarriage of justice cases
This is a list of miscarriage of justice cases. This list includes cases where a convicted individual was later cleared of the crime and either has received an official exoneration, or a consensus exists that the individual was unjustly punished ...
*
Race in the United States criminal justice system
Race in the United States criminal justice system refers to the unique experiences and disparities in the United States in regard to the policing and prosecuting of various races. There have been different outcomes for different racial groups i ...
*
Capital punishment in the United States
In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty throughout the country at the federal level, in 27 states, and in American Samoa. It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses. Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 s ...
*
Innocent prisoner's dilemma
The innocent prisoner's dilemma, or parole deal, is a detrimental effect of a legal system in which admission of guilt can result in reduced sentences or early parole. When an innocent person is wrongly convicted of a crime, legal systems which n ...
*
Miscarriage of justice
A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal procedure, criminal or civil procedure, civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they actual innocence, did not commit. Mis ...
*
False confession
A false confession is an admission of guilt for a crime which the individual did not commit. Although such confessions seem counterintuitive, they can be made voluntarily, perhaps to protect a third party, or induced through coercive interrogat ...
*
Overturned convictions in the United States
This is a list of notable overturned convictions in the United States.
Alabama
Blount County
* Bill Wilson was convicted of the 1912 murder of his wife and child and sentenced to life in prison. He was exonerated in 1918 when they were both ...
*
Capital punishment debate in the United States The debate over capital punishment in the United States existed as early as the colonial period. As of April 2022, it remains a legal penalty within 27 states, the federal government, and military criminal justice systems. The states of Colorado, ...
*
List of exonerated death row inmates
This list contains names of people who were found guilty of capital crimes and placed on death row but later found to be wrongly convicted. Many of these exonerees' sentences were overturned by acquittal or pardon, but some of those listed were ...
References
External links
Homepage''After Innocence''a
Working Films"For the Wrongly Convicted, New Trials Once the Cell Opens" The New York Times, January 25, 2005. (PDF link)
*
2005 films
American documentary films
Films scored by Charles Bernstein
Sundance Film Festival award winners
Documentary films about capital punishment in the United States
2005 documentary films
Wrongful convictions
2000s English-language films
2000s American films
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