Champions of Justice

The Champions of Justice Fundraiser engages the community to learn about and support the Midwest Innocence Project (MIP), a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the investigation, litigation, and exoneration of the wrongfully convicted men and women in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Iowa, and Nebraska. Learn more about the MIP at www.themip.org.

Teams go head to head in this friendly fundraising competition to see who can provide the greatest support and impact for the MIP! Winning team receives a traveling trophy and will be recognized for their achievement in a newspaper announcement and billboard! Become a team captain, join an existing team, or help your favorite team win by donating now!

We will celebrate the conclusion of the fundraiser and all fundraiser teams on International Wrongful Conviction Day, October 2, 2018 at recordBar. 

FREEDOM ISN'T FREE

Your donations expedite more exonerations

BY THE NUMBERS

• Research estimates between 2%-5% of all prisoners in the U.S. are innocen; that means there are up to 7,000 wrongfully convicted people in prison in our five-state area alone.
• Innocence organizations were involved in a record 54 exonerations in 2017.
• Defendants exonerated in 2017 spent an average of 10.6 years incarcerated for their convictions, for a total of 1,478 total years lost.

COSTS

After a conviction, it takes roughly seven to ten years for an innocent person to be exonerated, and the process is very expensive, with case preparation costing $100,000 or more. A full exoneration can cost $325,000. Other costs include:

• $50 - Helps MIP collect critical legal documents
• $100 - Covers travel costs to visit a client in prison
• $250 - Sends an investigator to interview one witness
• $500 - Funds initial expert review in preparation for litigation
• $1,000 - Provides for critical testing of one item for DNA

2017 EXONERATIONS BY CONTRIBUTING FACTOR

• 29 False Confessions
• 37 Mistaken Eyewitness Identification
• 84 Official Misconduct
• 87 Perjury or False Accusation

Many cases involved more than one contributing factor.