4th Grade Welcomes Representatives from the Innocence Project
The 4th grade hosted two representatives from the Innocence Project on Wednesday in the Dalton East Library to learn about the criminal justice system and wrongful convictions.
The students recently read From the Desk of Zoe Washington, which introduced them to various aspects of the justice system and the relationship between systemic racism and wrongful convictions.
On Wednesday, NYC attorney Chong Park spoke to students virtually and detailed his experience representing a man whose support of the Innocence Project resulted in his release from prison 32 years after his 1980s murder conviction.
The Innocence Project’s State Policy Advocate Bay Scoggin then presented some eye-opening data regarding racial bias, wrongful convictions, and the Project’s exoneration success. In addition, Bay detailed steps the justice system is implementing to ensure that wrongful convictions happen less frequently and coordinated a memory exercise with the students to illustrate the inaccuracy of eyewitness accounts.
At the conclusion of the presentation, the appreciative 4th graders thanked Chong and Bay for helping to enhance their understanding of this topic.