The Pennsylvania Innocence Project - Pennsylvania's first legal center dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted inmates - started accepting applications earlier this month.
And in only three weeks, the project has already received more than 87 applications from inmates who believe they were convicted of crimes they did not commit.
After a careful review of these applications, a team of specially trained students will work to investigate and pursue these inmates' claims.
They will be supervised by volunteer lawyers, the project's legal director, Marissa Bluestine and executive director Richard Glazer.
But along with the objective of exonerating wrongfully convicted inmates, the Pennsylvania Innocence Project will also work to reform the criminal-justice system and educate the public on the issues behind wrongful convictions.
Bluestine said the project - housed at Temple University - has already received an incredible amount of support from the local community.
"We've been inundated by calls from investigators, and defense lawyers in particular, wanting to help in some way with the work that we're doing," Bluestine said.
Dean of Penn Law Michael Fitts sits on the advisory board of the project along with the deans of other notable law schools in Philadelphia.
Bluestine said there are many roles within the project that local college students can fill.
"Particularly law and graduate journalism students can get involved in investigating the claims of innocence," Bluestine said. "Undergraduate students can become involved in a variety of ways by helping us get the word out, corresponding with clients [and] scheduling public education events on campuses."
The Pennsylvania Innocence Project joins more than 50 other Innocence Projects nationwide, but Bluestine said the Pennsylvania Innocence Project is unique because it is one of the few that works on cases other than those involving DNA evidence.
"We take a much broader stance in defining our cases," Bluestine said. "DNA involves a very small number of all convictions."
There have been 10 exonerations of Pennsylvania inmates to date and 400 nationwide.
In order for the Pennsylvania Innocence Project to accept an inmate as a potential client, the inmate must file an application with the project.
Volunteer lawyers and students working on the project will screen the case for claims of actual innocence and investigate further if necessary. If at any point these students and lawyers feel they have gathered enough information to prove innocence, they will pursue the claim in court.
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