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This week in the Law Library we're teaching making Word documents accessible, Researching Statutes, Advanced Legal Research Beyond the Basics, Advanced Legal Research Transactional Law,  AI & the Law, and Introduction to Law & the Legal Profession. We're also raising awareness for Wrongful Conviction Day and exploring resources related to wrongful convictions.

This Week’s Research Sessions

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

Technology Tuesdays

• Making Word Documents Accessible
• 12:15pm - 1:15pm
• Zoom
• Shannon Kemen, Legal Technology & Research Instructional Services Librarian

Introduction to Law & the Legal Profession

• 12:30pm - 1:50pm
• Ron Jones Electronic Resources Instructional Services LibrarianRon Jones Electronic Resources Instructional Services Librarian

AI & the Law

• 1:30am - 2:50pm
• Profs. Laura Dixon-Caldwell, Shannon Kemen, Ashley Russell, and Michael Whiteman

Wednesday, September 30, 2026

Advanced Legal Research: Transactional Law

• 11:10am - 12:05pm
• Instructional & Reference Services Librarian Laura Dixon-Caldwell

LLM Research & Writing

• Researching Statutes
• 3:05pm - 4:30pm
• Legal Technology & Research Instructional Services Librarian Shannon Kemen

Thursday, October 1, 2026

Introduction to Law & the Legal Profession

• 12:30pm - 1:50pm
• Electronic Resources Instructional Services LibrarianRon Jones Electronic Resources Instructional Services Librarian Ron Jones

AI & the Law

• 1:30am - 2:50pm
• Profs. Laura Dixon-Caldwell, Shannon Kemen, Ashley Russell, and Michael Whiteman

Asynchronous

Advanced Legal Research: Beyond the Basics

• Instructional & Reference Services Librarian Ashley Russell

Wrongful Conviction Day & Week

October 2, 2026 is Wrongful Conviction Day. International Wrongful Conviction Day is a day to raise awareness of the causes and remedies of wrongful conviction and to recognize the tremendous personal, social, and emotional costs of wrongful conviction for innocent people and their families.

Wrongful Conviction Day began as an effort of the Innocence Network, an affiliation of organizations dedicated to providing pro-bono legal and investigative services to individuals seeking to prove innocence of crimes for which they have been convicted, working to redress the causes of wrongful convictions, and supporting the exonerated after they are freed. 

In honor of Wrongful Conviction Day, this week's featured study aids and resources involve criminal law, criminal procedure, evidence, and wrongful convictions.

Ohio Innocence Project

The Ohio Innocence Project at UC Klekamp Law, ranks among the most successful projects in the Innocence Network. OIP Legal Fellows and staff spend many hours reading and writing letters and having telephone conversations with inmates about their cases. Prior to actively taking on a case, if not before, the OIP staff and Fellows will meet the imprisoned person to discuss the case, the plan for litigation and the expectations of the imprisoned person and the OIP in the case. OIP Policy Fellows and staff spend many hours researching legislation and advocating for or against bills in the Ohio General Assembly, the main legislative branch of government in Ohio. In addition, policy fellows take part in a wide range of professional training, community engagement, and campus-based education efforts around the state. Learn More About the Ohio Innocence Project

Featured Study Aids

CALI Lessons on Criminal Procedure

• This Subjet Outline in CALI allows you to search for terms of art that correspond to Criminal Procedure to find related CALI Lessons. If using CALI, you will need to create an account (if you have not already done so) using a Cincinnati Law authorization code. You can obtain this code from a reference librarian. 

CALI Lessons on Evidence

• This Subjet Outline in CALI allows you to search for terms of art that correspond to Evidence to find related CALI Lessons. If using CALI, you will need to create an account (if you have not already done so) using a Cincinnati Law authorization code. You can obtain this code from a reference librarian. 

Death Penalty Stories

• Available through the West Academic study aid subscription, this title offers rich and detailed accounts of the most important capital cases in American law. In addition to comprehensive coverage of the "canonical cases" such as Furman v. Georgia, Gregg v. Georgia, Penry v. Lynaugh, Payne v. Tennessee, and McCleskey v. Kemp, the volume also presents in-depth accounts of cases involving core capital issues, including: representation, protections for the innocent, proportionality limits, execution methods, the problem of "volunteers," and the guarantee of heightened reliability.

Examples & Explanations for Evidence

• Available through the Aspen Learning Library, this text covers the Federal Rules of Evidence and includes the latest Supreme Court cases. It also analyzes the ebb and flow of Confrontation Clause jurisprudence. Analysis is first provided for a topic and then examples are given to help students understand the analysis. A series of problems at the end of each section or chapter assist you in testing your understanding. Answers are provided for these problems. It also includes a full presentation of the text of the Federal Rules, with “plain language” explanations, in a 59-page Appendix. New to the 15th Edition: new discussion of Rule 801(d)(1)(A) covering the anticipated December 2026 amendment that simplifies admission of witnesses’ prior inconsistent statements for the truth of what they assert; and updates examples reflecting abandonment of the former requirement that witnesses’ prior inconsistent statements would be admissible for their truth only if made under penalty of perjury in a formal proceeding.

Understanding Criminal Procedure I & II

• Available via the LexisNexis Digital Library Study Aid Subscription, Understanding Criminal Procedure: Vol. 1 Investigation focuses primarily or exclusively on police investigative process and constitutional concerns. Understanding Criminal Procedure Volume Two: Adjudication covers the criminal process after the police investigation ends and the adjudicative process commences.

Featured Book

Mark Godsey, Blind Injustice: A Former Prosecutor Exposes the Psychology and Politics of Wrongful Convictions

• Drawing upon stories from his own career, Mark Godsey shares how innate psychological flaws in judges, police, lawyers, and juries coupled with a “tough on crime” environment can cause investigations to go awry, leading to the convictions of innocent people. 
• Law Library KF9756 .G63 2017

Featured Database

HeinOnline Criminal Justice & Criminology

• Available on HeinOnline, this database offers an historical overview of these ever-changing disciplines and their various expressions in American and English law over time. Collecting Bureau of Justice statistics, memoirs of retired Scotland Yard investigators, congressional hearings on drug control policies, accounts of prison life in days long past and much more, this collection explores how criminal justice has changed in America and the effect criminology has had on those changes. It collects government documents as well as rare or hard to find pamphlets, memoirs, and books written by ordinary law enforcement officers and not-so-famous criminals. To help users navigate the content spanning these two wide-reaching disciplines, all titles in this collection have been subject coded into 16 subject areas: Attorney General, Crimes and Criminals, Criminal Statistics, Criminology, Drug Enforcement, Government Law, Investigation and Forensics, Juvenile Justice, Law and Procedure, Law Enforcement, Organized Crime, Penology, Reform and Recidivism, Reminiscences, Sex Crimes, and Victimology.

Featured Guide

Ohio Innocence Project Student Research Guide

• This guide has been produced to provide research guidance for students participating in the Ohio Innocence Project. Practitioners and other students researching issues related to wrongful convictions, dna testing, criminal law, forensics, and related issues may also find it useful.

Featured Video

Mark Godsey, A Deeper Look into our Justice System

• Mark Godsey has dedicated his legal career to protecting convicted inmates who claim they are not guilty. But how do those innocent citizens end up with convictions in the first place? Mark Godsey presents why that happens and how can we minimize—or even eliminate—the high number of wrongful convictions that happen in the United States each year.

Featured Website

National Exoneration Registry

• The Registry collects, analyzes and disseminates information about all known exonerations of innocent criminal defendants in the United States.

Learn More About Wrongful Convictions

Learn more about wrongful convictions by checking out the selected resources below:

Articles

• Meagan Hurley, The Dangers of Denying Prosecutorial Independence: Wrongful Convictions, Official Misconduct, and Public Corruption, 55 Stetson L. Rev. 287 (2025).
  • HeinOnline AI Summary: The article argues that recent political efforts to curtail prosecutorial discretion through oversight commissions and restrictive legislation are counterproductive and dangerous. While prosecutorial misconduct is a systemic epidemic, the analysis contends that undermining prosecutorial independence risks increasing wrongful convictions, fostering public corruption, and shielding powerful actors from accountability.
• Caitlin M. Plummer & Imran J. Syed, Shifted Science Revisited: Percolation Delays and the Persistence of Wrongful Convictions Based on outside Science, 64 Clev. St. L. Rev. 483 (2016).
  • HeinOnline AI Summary: The article "Shifted Science Revisited" examines the legal system's slow adoption of scientific advancements, particularly in forensic sciences such as fire investigation, Comparative Bullet Lead Analysis (CBLA), and Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS). This lag leads to wrongful convictions, as outdated scientific methods continue to be used in courts. The article highlights the need for improved communication between the scientific and legal communities to ensure justice is served.
• Kim D. Rossmo & Joycelyn M. Pollock, Confirmation Bias and Other Systemic Causes of Wrongful Convictions: A Sentinel Events Perspectiv, 11 Ne. U. L. Rev. 790 (2019).
  • HeinOnline AI Summary: The article argues that wrongful convictions are systemic failures rooted in cognitive biases, particularly confirmation bias, and advocates for adopting the sentinel event approach from fields like medicine to address these issues. By analyzing 50 cases, the study identifies key factors contributing to wrongful convictions and proposes reforms to mitigate such failures.
• Hayley Stillwell, Placebo Trials: A New Tool to Discourage Wrongful Convictions Caused by Jury Error,  56 Ariz. St. L.J. 1361 (2024).
  • HeinOnline AI Summary: The article addresses the persistent issue of wrongful convictions in the criminal justice system, highlighting the role of flawed evidence and jury error. It proposes the use of placebo trials as an innovative method to study jury behavior and decision-making, aiming to reduce wrongful convictions by identifying factors that influence jury verdicts. By simulating real trials without actual consequences, placebo trials provide a controlled environment to test variables and gather data, ultimately informing reforms to improve jury accuracy and fairness.
• Jessica A. Roth, Informant Witnesses and the Risk of Wrongful Convictions, 53 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 737 (2016).
  • HeinOnline AI Summary: The article highlights the critical issue of false criminal informant testimony as a leading cause of wrongful convictions, surpassing even false confessions and faulty forensic science in capital cases. While reforms have been implemented for other evidence types like eyewitness identification and forensic science, informant testimony remains largely unregulated and opaque, with no universal judicial oversight. The article emphasizes the need for evidence-based reforms to enhance the reliability of informant testimony and prevent wrongful convictions, proposing specific measures such as enhanced disclosure requirements, pretrial reliability hearings, and improved jury instructions.

Books

In addition to our featured book above, here are some additional selected books.

• Justin Brooks, You Might Go to Prison, Even Though You're Innocent (2023).
  • From the publisher: Surviving prison as an innocent person is a surreal nightmare no one wants to think about. But it can happen to you. Justin Brooks has spent his career freeing innocent people from prison. With You Might Go to Prison, Even Though You're Innocent, he offers up-close accounts of the cases he has fought, embedding them within a larger landscape of innocence claims and robust research on what we know about the causes of wrongful convictions. Putting readers at the defense table, this book forces us to consider how any of us might be swept up in the system, whether we hired a bad lawyer, bear a slight resemblance to someone else in the world, or are not good with awkward silence. The stories of Brooks's cases and clients paint the picture of a broken justice system, one where innocence is no protection from incarceration or even the death penalty. 
• Kimberly Cook, Shattered Justice Crime Victims' Experiences with Wwrongful Convictions and Eexonerations (2022).
  • From the publisher: Shattered Justice presents original crime victims' experiences with violent crime, investigations and trials, and later exonerations in their cases. Using in-depth interviews with 21 crime victims across the United States, Cook reveals how homicide victims’ family members and rape survivors describe the painful impact of the primary trauma, the secondary trauma of the investigations and trials, and then the tertiary trauma associated with wrongful convictions and exonerations. Important lessons and analyses are shared related to grief and loss, and healing and repair. Using restorative justice practices to develop and deliver healing retreats for survivors also expands the practice of restorative justice. Finally, policy reforms aimed at preventing, mitigating, and repairing the harms of wrongful convictions is covered.    
• Brandon Garrett, Convicting the Innocent : Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong
  • From the publisher: DNA exonerations have shattered confidence in the criminal justice system by exposing how often we have convicted the innocent and let the guilty walk free. In this unsettling in-depth analysis, Brandon Garrett examines what went wrong in the cases of the first 250 wrongfully convicted people to be exonerated by DNA testing.
• Kent Roach, Justice for Some: A Comparative Study of Miscarriages of Justice and Wrongful Convictions (2025).
  • This book defines the differing concepts of miscarriages of justice, wrongful convictions and innocence in relation to the presumption of innocence and the rationing of justice. It compares inquisitorial systems, with examples from Europe, South America and Asia to adversarial systems. It contrasts England’s focus on miscarriages of justice and the remedial institutions of the Court of Appeal and the Criminal Cases Review Commission, with the United States and China’s narrower focus on proven factual innocence. It highlights new laws enacted in India in 2023 that increase the risk of wrongful convictions. It details how the International Criminal Court has taken steps to reduce the risk of false guilty pleas that may have been accepted by previous international criminal courts. The book examines the roles of racist prejudice and gender stereotypes in wrongful convictions including for imagined crimes that never occurred.
• Time Special Edition : Innocent: The Fight Against Wrongful Convictions
  • From the publisher: From its introduction—authored by New York Times columnist Jim Dwyer—to its last chapter, the issue explains how Innocence Project Co-Founders and Co-Directors Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck fostered a movement in America’s criminal justice system through the use of DNA technology and pays tribute to clients as well as to some of the many players who have become central to the work of exonerating innocent people.
• Wrongful Convictions and the DNA Revolution Twenty-five Years of Freeing the Innocent (Daniel S. Medwed ed. 2017).
  • From the publisher: For centuries, most people believed the criminal justice system worked - that only guilty defendants were convicted. DNA technology shattered that belief. DNA has now freed more than three hundred innocent prisoners in the United States. This book examines the lessons learned from twenty-five years of DNA exonerations and identifies lingering challenges. By studying the dataset of DNA exonerations, we know that precise factors lead to wrongful convictions. These include eyewitness misidentifications, false confessions, dishonest informants, poor defense lawyering, weak forensic evidence, and prosecutorial misconduct. In Part I, scholars discuss the efforts of the Innocence Movement over the past quarter century to expose the phenomenon of wrongful convictions and to implement lasting reforms. In Part II, another set of researchers looks ahead and evaluates what still needs to be done to realize the ideal of a more accurate system.

Websites

• Convicting the Innocent: DNA Exonerations Database
  • This database details the first 350 DNA exonerations in the United States and updates the research in the Convicting the Innocent book.
• Innocence Project
  • The Innocence Project works to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, compassionate, and equitable systems of justice for everyone. 
• The Innocence Network
  • The Innocence Network is a coalition of organizations dedicated to freeing the innocent and preventing wrongful convictions worldwide.
• The Ohio Innocence Project at the Donald P. Klekamp College of Law
  • The Innocence Project at Cincinnati Law's work includes helping develop and advocate for lasting criminal justice reform through legislation as well as launching Ohio Innocence Project University, an active network of student groups at colleges across the state.
• The Wrongful Conviction Project
  • The Wrongful Conviction Project’s mission is to free wrongfully convicted Ohioans and to reform the criminal legal system to prevent future injustice.