Fighting Wrongful Convictions
Thousands of innocent people have been convicted of crimes they did not commit. This section provides resources for understanding, challenging, and overturning wrongful convictions in New York and nationwide.
Important Legal Notice
This information is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. If you believe you or someone you know has been wrongfully convicted, consult with a qualified attorney. Filing a CIU request does not extend statutory deadlines for appeals or federal habeas corpus petitions.
The CIU Coverage Gap
Conviction Integrity Units are one of the only mechanisms that can reopen a closed case from the inside — but no law requires them. Whether a wrongful conviction can be reviewed internally depends on whether the county that prosecuted the case chose to create a unit.
62
NY counties — only a minority operate a CIU
~50%
of NY units have never supported an exoneration
$322M
paid to wrongfully incarcerated New Yorkers since 1989
Reviewing old convictions means an office examining its own work — and sometimes concluding it got something badly wrong. That tension helps explain why some jurisdictions never create a unit and why some units rarely act. A 2025 investigation by New York Focus and Columbia Journalism Investigations found that prosecutors almost never named their own misconduct, even in exoneration cases.
Sources: National Registry of Exonerations; New York Focus / Columbia Journalism Investigations (2025); The Guardian (2024).
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How This Platform Can Help
Legal-Misconduct.com provides tools to document misconduct, file official complaints, and connect with advocacy organizations. If misconduct contributed to a wrongful conviction, our reporting tools can help build a record.