Customer Reviews

After Innocence

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I saw this movie in a theater, when it debuted in Los Angeles. I estimate there were between 100 and 150 people in the audience. It would hardly be fair to say the event was a movie debut, without pointing out that the movie debut also appeared to be an event actively showcasing the cause of the wrongly convicted. The movie, in my opinion, was excellent and showed the lives of a number of men who had been wrongly convicted of crimes, most involving charges of rape. The men talked about:


# their lives before their convictions,

# what circumstances led to their convictions,

# what their lives were like in jail,

# their struggle to be freed by DNA evidence,

# what their lives were like after exoneration.


Many of the exonerated were struggling to receive compensation for their unjust treatment, and most were struggling to pick up the pieces of their lives after being devastated by the inhumanity of America's legal system. The callousness of the system appeared frequently, while apologies for errors were few and far between. It was difficult to sit through the movie without feeling anger toward the cruelty and injustice America's legal system brought into the lives of these men. It was apparent from the reactions of others in the audience I was not alone in my feelings.

The movie was edited so that it also included the struggles of Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld and others in the Innocence Project as they worked to free the wrongly convicted. At one point in the movie a volunteer showed bundle after bundle of letters (from prisoners), in filing cabinets that staff had not even had the resources to open yet. It was an appalling site, considering the perilous existence of some DNA evidence in "official" storage.

After the movie, the writer/director Jessica Sanders conducted a Q & A with the audience. Along with her, were about half a dozen of the wrongly convicted men, some of whom were in the movie. An attorney who had assisted in the project was also on stage. In response to an audience question, the attorney stated that it was his guess that between 1% and 5% of the current prison population was wrongly convicted. He went on to say, "That doesn't sound like much, but given that our present prison population is 2,000,000, that works out to between 20,000 and 100,000 human beings." Although it was never mentioned in the Q & A, or the movie, 93% of those incarcerated are male.

On the way out of the theater, we passed by tables that sold baseball caps, t-shirts, books, and CD's. The book that was on sale was entitled "Surviving Justice," and is also available through Amazon.com.

I paused momentarily at one of the tables, while my friend asked questions. In several subsequent discussions with audience members, and people at tables, I mentioned that I was a member of the National Coalition of Free Men Los Angeles, and said, "We encounter a lot of men who are 'falsely accused.' You know, the preliminary step leading to wrongful convictions."

In the lobby, my friend asked one of the attorneys in the group what culpability the government had for those wrongly convicted. He was told, "Unless it can be shown that the government was malicious, there is none." Perhaps the government hasn't learned yet that the American public is very angry about all the "witch hunting" of innocent men going on, but there is a growing effort underway to "educate" them of that fact.

I highly recommend the movie After Innocence for one and all. The stories of wrongly convicted men, who have regained their freedom, is a heroic effort worth knowing. The stories of wrongly convicted men, struggling to regain the shattered pieces of their lives, is an American tragedy worthy of every citizen's help and support to make right.

to put it simply, this film is a STUNNING jaw-dropper. it is by far one of the best films i have seen in decades, not because of great film-making techniques, but simply because of its incredibly powerful content. highly worth your time to see the how and why our (U.S.) justice system so consistently malfunctions and to see the wide swath of lives it ravages in the process.

but this is a truly hopeful film, as it shows many exonerees who, after being freed, have risen above the horrors of being imprisoned for 10, 20 years for committing no crime at all; and it shows many of those in the innocence project who make enormous sacrifices of time, effort, and money to save innocent people from the hell of unjust imprisonment and death.

Having lived in Brevard County, Florida, where Wilton Dedge was exonerated, and having experienced traumatic exchanges with some of the parties involved in his wrongful conviction and his delayed exoneration, I have the unfortunate ability to rate Jessica Sander's directorship from a personal standpoint. After Innocence took the high road; Ms. Sanders could have revealed there was a prior Brevard exoneree, Juan Ramos, who served five years due to the testimony of the bogus "sniffing dog" handler who testified against Dedge, and mentioned that another likely wrongful Brevard conviction (partly based on the dog) is on the Innocence Project's radar. While both these men's stories are as important as Wilton Dedge's, they could have taken the film into the realm of appearing to be a cinematic indictment of Brevard County, detracting from the stories of the exonerees from other locations. I encourage those who purchase the DVD to watch the Special Features, not only to extend the great feeling the film leaves them with, but so they'll be inspired to support the Innocence Project until every state learns the right way to say they're sorry for wrongful imprisonments. While I'm grateful that the film thoroughly educates potential jurors, one aspect I wish Ms. Sanders had been hit hard on is that voters nationwide can give elected public servants that don't care about innocence -- governors, legislators, D.A.'s -- the opportunity to find a new line of work for which they're better suited.

After Innocence exposes the very real, often overlooked problem of people wrongfully imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. These people are mostly male; some of them were on death row or serving time without parole before DNA evidence proved years later that they could not have committed the crime with which they had been charged. Director Jessica Sanders does a marvelous job with this documentary; we get to see many people who have been freed from prison and even death row through the efforts of The Innocence Project, a legal clinic founded by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld in 1992 at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City. The documentary tells the stories of these men in very personal, poignant ways; and even the hardest of hearts will be moved by their stories. Remarkably, these men aren't particularly sour about their experience; they merely want to reconstruct their lives as quickly as possible. The fact that they have lost time with their loved ones really is painful to explore but it's critical to understanding their experience. We also learn that often these people were put in prison based primarily on eyewitness accounts, which, according to attorney Barry Scheck, is essentially what the courts go on in 78% of criminal cases despite the fact the scientific research shows that eyewitness accounts are not reliable ways to determine the identity of a person, especially in a heated and emotional crisis like a woman's memory of the man who harmed her, for example.

There are many details of each man's story in this film; but there are certain similarities about them that I can explore here to help you determine if you want to watch this film. The men reminisce about their lives before their incarceration and they talk about how prison life is meant to "break them down." We see prosecutors desperate to cover themselves rather than admit that they made a mistake by wrongfully prosecuting anybody; in the case of one man in Florida it takes three years just to have another court meeting to demonstrate that the DNA evidence proves him innocent of the crime. We also see the incredible obstacles each must face after they are released from prison--they're given next to nothing and there's no compensation for what they went through. One man tells the former Governor of Illinois that they often just take the newly released person to a local bus stop, give them seven or eight dollars and make sure that they get on the bus! The Governor of Illinois was so impressed by the power of DNA evidence and so concerned that he might be able to avoid the execution of even just one innocent person that before he left office he commuted the death sentences of all convicts in the state of Illinois.

Although it's sometimes painful, it's also fascinating to meet family members, often parents and spouses of the convicts so recently released from prison. Because of a long period of time without my mother in my life I can easily feel what these released men must have felt when they first saw their homes again after years or decades of being locked away. Despite their problems reentering the community (their records are not easily erased), some of the men in this film achieve their goals of having a happy, productive life with a good job and the love from forming a new family of their own.

In addition, the DVD comes with numerous extras that make this very special and informative. There are deleted scenes and updates on the lives of some of the exonerees. There's another bonus of Pearl Jam performing with two exonerees and the interviews with the filmmakers are also good. I also liked the footage of the film's premiere.

After Innocence is a powerful look at the failure of the criminal justice system to make certain that only those who are guilty of crimes go to prison. Even today, DNA isn't always available in some cases; in some other cases botched investigations destroy the DNA evidence with terrible results. I highly recommend this film for anyone studying law and anyone else interested in these issues.

first saw this on cable and showed the DVD to my students. they were very moved by the content (one class even applauded) and I would recommend it

This is an amazing story of the mistreatment of many Americans throughout the Criminal Justice system. It is an excellent educational tool as well as an emotional film about injustice in America.

Any Criminal Justice Student and/or Professor should invest in a copy of this movie lest we forget....

A well Done Documentary.

A standing ovation goes out to the staffers of The American Innocence Project and to those who were open enough to share their lives with the public. The amount of years that these individuals spent in our US Justice System is horrifying. Their stories are a reminder that this can happen to anybody in the USA.

As a viewer, I was hopeful that these individuals were able to go on with their life to the best of their abilities.

There is information noted in the DVD for individuals who want to help.

A telling documentary about the failings of criminal investigative law in the U.S., AFTER INNOCENCE is a poignant, if somewhat stilted, telling of the lives of men who've been wrongfully imprisoned for years and years (sometimes decades and decades) only to be released after advances in DNA evidence free them.

The documentary follows only men through this process, most of them having been identified during their trial by a person who is wrong about them. Not really a surprise, as eyewitness identification is now being proven to be one of the least accurate ways in which to prosecute someone.

The film begins and ends with its focus on Wilton Dedge in Brevard County, Florida. Sentenced to life in prison for sexual battery and burglary, Dedge has steadfastly commented on his innocence since his imprisonment some 22 years earlier. Never having given up, Dedge has the physical evidence collected from his crime sent to a forensic lab for DNA study. By the end of the film, we learn that none of it matches Dedge and he is sure to be released. But the prosecutors from the District Attorney's office are reluctant to let him go. Why?

That's the biggest stickler in the entire film. Even when faced with overwhelming evidence of innocence, our supposed community service men and women are unwilling to admit their errors. That's very frustrating and shown quite well.

The problem with the documentary, though, is that it never really shows the "other side." In other words, the D.A.'s perspective. Perhaps the D.A.'s didn't want to be filmed. But we're never told either way. Only once do we ever see a prosecutor discussing DNA cases, and that is very short indeed. Thus, this gives the After Innocence a very lopsided/one-sided viewpoint. If the D.A.'s didn't want to be filmed, I would've liked to have seen the film-makers attempting to get in to see them only to be rebuked and booted out. Again, we don't know if this happened or if the film-makers ever tried to get the other side.

The other notable portion to the film is that prison affects these men very differently. Vincent Moto seems to have lost his willingness to better himself, while Herman Atkins now has a Ph.D in psychology. Dennis Maher and Nick Yarris seem to have mental health problems thanks to their long and wrongful imprisonment, each appearing either lackluster about life or having an inflated ego about their own importance rather than the importance of the situation itself.

Regardless, After Innocence is informative in its own, one-sided way. Just make sure you check out both sides before deciding on its entire significance.