Request a Speaker
NCIP SPEAKERS BUREAU
Download speaker request form here & return to ncip@scu.edu.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Northern California Innocence Project (NCIP) Speakers Bureau is two-fold: to help exonerees re-enter society after their wrongful imprisonment and to educate the community by stimulating dialogue around the causes of wrongful conviction and the reforms needed in order to eliminate sending innocent people to prison.
Our Speakers Bureau, by enlisting, training and booking exonerees as speakers will help them build their resumes and earn income after their release from what is typically years in prison.
These voices of men and women who were convicted of crimes they did not commit will increase awareness of wrongful convictions, the causes of wrongful conviction, what happens to exonerees when they are released from prison, and the reforms needed within our criminal justice system to eliminate wrongful convictions.
Speakers
Our roster of speakers includes exonerees from California and from states outside of California, NCIP executives and NCIP attorneys. They speak as firsthand participants in our criminal justice system on topics around the causes of wrongful conviction and the needed reforms of our criminal justice system. Exonerees, who have typically spent tens of years in prison, also can deliver messages to motivate and inspire. Each speaker is a graduate of our speakers training program. They have chosen to enroll in our program to speak professionally to the public about their experiences in the hopes of preventing future injustices.
A partial list of topics is below. You can learn more about our speakers by reading their biographies.
Topics
Our speakers can talk to your audience about a variety of subjects including education and literacy, justice and the legal system, life after exoneration, overcoming adversity, persistence, and causes of wrongful conviction such as prosecutorial misconduct and eyewitness misidentification. If your audience needs to learn more about a particular subject or is looking for motivation to achieve greater levels of success, we have a speaker just right for your event.
NCIP SPEAKERS BUREAU
Audiences
We will tailor the topic and assist in speaker selection for any size organization - small medium and large. We work with a variety of programs and organizations, including schools, corporations, law firms, law enforcement organizations, criminal justice associations, civic and religious groups.
Our speakers are available for a wide range of programs and events, including: Keynote Addresses, Customized On-Site Seminars & Workshops, Panels, Workshops and Symposia, High School, College and Graduate School classes, Academic Conferences, Commencements Government hearings, TV , Radio, and print interviews, Breakfast or Lunch speaking engagements, Book signings, Motivational Events, Sales conferences, Recognition Events, Observation Months.
Selected Topics by Category:
Motivate and Inspire Your Audience
Imagine. To be charged, convicted, sentenced to life in prison, even death, for a crime that you did not commit. Sitting prison for years, writing letters asking for help. Then, to walk out as a free person. Hear from our speakers on lessons learned while in prison for a crime they did not commit, including: Overcoming adversity, Finding opportunity in adversity, The importance of literacy and education for young people, Letting go of anger, Unconditional forgiveness, Starting over, Adapting to change
Learn about wrongful convictions and the costs of those wrongful convictions
Topics include: How can an innocent person be convicted of a crime they did not commit? Personal accounts of the failures of California’s criminal justice system. What are the six causes of wrongful conviction? Prosecutorial Misconduct: How do prosecutors balance the pressure to win convictions with the obligation to do justice? How pervasive are problems of prosecutorial misconduct? Eyewitness Identification: Misidentification by eyewitnesses is the leading cause of wrongful conviction, yet California has been slow to adopt best practices that would lessen mistakes. Why? What are the costs of injustice – how much do wrongful convictions cost taxpayers annually? What are the human costs of wrongful conviction? What are the costs to the person wrongfully convicted, to the victim of the crime and to the families?
Understand proposed criminal justice reforms and take action
We arguably have the best justice system in the world. However, our justice system convicts innocent people. Investigating those failures allows us to understand how that happened, and to define what changes are needed to ensure that California’s criminal justice system serves our communities: convicting the guilty, protecting the innocent and treating all Californians equally. Topics include: Access to DNA Evidence, Preservation of DNA Evidence National and State Best Practices for Eyewitness Identification, Prosecutorial Misconduct and Prosecutorial Oversight.
