Post Conviction Practitioner Resource Center

A Project of Healing Justice

Overview

The Post-Conviction Practitioner Resource Center provides practical tools and resources for prosecutors, law enforcement, judges, victim advocates and the media to support victims and survivors during cases involving post-conviction claims of innocence and exonerations.

How This Site Can Help You Help Victims & Survivors

Without timely information and continuing support, post-conviction claims of innocence and exonerations can unintentionally re-victimize and traumatize victims and survivors.

Victim-centered, trauma-informed policies and practices ensure that victims and survivors can navigate the conviction review and exoneration process without being harmed again. These policies and procedures also streamline the workload and reduce the toll that victim notification and support can take on agencies and professionals by better preparing staff and distributing the work, ultimately leading to better outcomes for all.

Victim & Survivor Experiences

The resources on this site will help you:

Demonstrate respect and sensitivity throughout the entire criminal legal process, including post-conviction.
Provide victims and survivors with agency and choice and protect their rights.
Mitigate the emotional distress experienced.
Promote safety and security.
Establish efforts to regain their trust in the legal system.

“I felt voiceless… I didn’t really think people cared about me and my sister and our feelings about the situation. I didn’t feel like our family got enough consideration about what we are dealing with and going through.”

“It is important to put ourselves in the shoes of the victim. They have a right and deserve to know what’s going on.”

"One of the biggest things that I needed was time to process. You know when you’re faced with this… there’s so much news media going on around the exoneration and the exoneree that you get put on the backburner.”

“Survivors need information. They often get lost in all of this. Sometimes they are made aware of this much later than maybe they could be. They need to have access to information as soon as possible.”

"I have some resentment towards the people who were supposed to be helping serve my family. We needed them to be there with some empathy, and some compassion, and some honesty, and some follow-up. And not only follow-up, but follow-through.”

“The support system should be the very same as the very first day after the crime as after the exoneration, because the hurt is the same."

“We needed more honesty. Tell me the truth. I’d rather you tell me straight up what’s going to happen, than for you to kind-of sugarcoat it and try to make me feel okay so I don’t express myself in a way that you didn’t want to impact the case. No, tell me the truth… tell me now. So I know, so I can prepare myself."

Additional Resource Sites

Healing Justice

Healing Justice works to prevent and alleviate the harms caused by all wrongful convictions through advocacy, education, and direct support. We are committed to addressing the post-conviction needs of crime victims and survivors through direct assistance, peer support, and other opportunities for healing.

Post-Conviction Survivor Resource Center

The PCRC is an online resource center where all crime victims and survivors can find critical information and get support during legal activity that continues after a conviction in their case. On the PCRC, crime victims and survivors will find a variety of emotional support resources and legal information to help them during post-conviction case activity. They can also connect directly with a trained victim advocate for individualized support.