This Week in the Law Library ... Sept. 29, 2025

This week in the Law Library we're teaching AI and the Law, Secondary Sources, and Civil Litigation. October 2, 2025 is International Wrongful Conviction Day so we are highlighting resources on wrongful convictions, criminal law, and criminal justice. October is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Cybersecurity Month so we're also turning a spotlight on resources on issues in those areas.

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

AI & the Law

• 10:40am - 12:05pm
• Profs. Laura Dixon-Caldwell, Shannon Kemen, Ashley Russell, and Michael Whiteman

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Lawyering 1, Cohort 5

• 9:00am - 10:25am
• Researching Secondary Sources
• Laura Dixon-Caldwell​, Instructional & Reference Services Librarian​

Lawyering 1, Cohort 1

• 1:30pm - 2:55pm
• Researching Secondary Sources
• Shannon Kemen, Legal Technology & Research Instructional Services Librarian

Thursday, October 2, 2025

AI & the Law

• 10:40am - 12:05pm
• Profs. Laura Dixon-Caldwell, Shannon Kemen, Ashley Russell, and Michael Whiteman

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. 

The Ohio Innocence Project at Cincinnati 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.   Policy fellows work directly with state representatives, senators, and their staffs to promote reforms to Ohio’s laws in an effort to both prevent wrongful convictions from occurring, and remedy them when they do.  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

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

• 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.
• Evidence Examples & Explanations
  • 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 14th Edition: Amendment allowing introduction of extrinsic evidence of a witness’s prior inconsistent statement only after the witness has had an opportunity to explain or deny it (Rule 613); Amendment expanding the types of corroborating evidence that must be considered in applying the statement against penal interest hearsay exception (Rule 804(b)(3)); Changes to the opposing party’s statement provisions in Rule 801 for circumstances where a party’s claim derives from a declarant or a declarant’s principal; New Rule 107 and modification of Rule 1006 concerning illustrative aids.
• 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

• 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 Reserves KF9756 .G63 2017

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

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

• Brandon Garrett, Convicting the Innocent : Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong
  • 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.
  • Law Stacks & Langsam KF9756 .G37 2011
• Daniel S. Medwed, Prosecution Complex : America's Race to Convict, and Its Impact on the Innocent
  • In Prosecution Complex, Daniel S. Medwed shows how prosecutors are told to lock up criminals and protect the rights of defendants. This double role creates an institutional “prosecution complex” that animates how district attorneys’ offices treat potentially innocent defendants at all stages of the process—and that can cause prosecutors to aid in the conviction of the innocent. Ultimately, Prosecution Complex shows how, while most prosecutors aim to do justice, only some hit that target consistently.
  • Law Stacks KF9640 .M43 2012
• Michael Radelet, Hugo Adam Beday & Constance E. Putnam, In Spite of Innocence : Erroneous Convictions in Capital Cases
  • This book recounts the personal stories of more than 400 innocent Americans who were convicted of capital or potentially capital crimes in this country between 1900 and 1991.
  • Law Stacks & Langsam KF9756 .R33 1992
• Taryn Simon, The Innocents
  • The Innocents (2000–2003) documents the stories of individuals who served time in prison for violent crimes they did not commit. At issue is the question of photography’s function as a credible eyewitness and arbiter of justice. Through powerful portraits of 46 exonerees, along with interviews, letters, case documents, and court transcripts, the book gives voice to their stories while revealing how photography can limit and distort criminal investigations. 
  • Law Morgan Hum Rts & UC Clermont KF9756 .S56 2003
•  Time Special Edition : Innocent: The Fight Against Wrongful Convictions
  • 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.
  • Law Stacks KF9756 .T56 2017

• 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 Cincinnati 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.

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Begun in 1981 by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, it is a Day of Unity to connect battered women’s advocates across the country. In 1989 Congress passed Public Law 101-112 (PDF) declaring the month of October to be Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This month's theme is "With Survivors, Always."

University of Cincinnati Help for Student Victims & Student Survivors

This website is designed to provide resources for victims or survivors of sexual harassment, including sexual assault, dating or domestic violence, gender-based harassment, or stalking. Staff are available 24-hours a day for confidential advice and assistance. Even if you are unsure what to do, call Counseling and Psychological Services at 513-556-0648 and you will be connected with a confidential counselor who will listen to you and help guide you as you figure out what you want to do next. There are a variety of resources to support you and help provide the assistance and services you need.

University of Cincinnati College of Law Domestic Violence and Civil Protection Order Clinic

Law students can gain hands-on experience as you learn how to provide holistic legal services to survivors of domestic violence. At the Domestic Violence and Civil Protection Order Clinic, you’ll work alongside clinic staff to learn every aspect of civil practice, from initial interviews through advocacy.

October is also National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Cybersecurity Awareness Month was launched by the National Cyber Security Alliance & the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in October 2004. The theme this year is "Stay Safe Online." 

UC Office of Information Security Awareness Library

UC Office of Information Security Learning Resources

Posted September 29, 2025 by Susan Boland

View Previous 2025 Blog Posts