There are more innocent people in our jails and prisons today than ever before. According to a major study, at least 4.1% of all defendants sentenced to death in the US in the modern era are innocent. “Reasonable Doubts: Making an Exoneree” is an unprecedented undergraduate class in which students at UCSC collaborate with students at Georgetown University to reinvestigate and document likely wrongful convictions in serious cases.
The “Making an Exoneree” course originated with Georgetown Professor Marc Howard and his childhood friend, Adjunct Professor Marty Tankleff, who was himself wrongfully convicted and incarcerated for almost 18 years before being exonerated. Initiated in 2018, the course at Georgetown has resulted in the exoneration and release of three innocent men and significant progress in the legal prospects of several other potential exonerees.
In 2021, UCSC Film and Digital Media Professor Sharon Daniel initiated a partnership with Professors Howard and Tankleff and in the winter and spring of 2022, 10 UCSC Film and Digital Media undergraduate students worked with undergraduate students at Georgetown to investigate the innocence claims of five people who were likely wrongfully convicted and produced short films and social media campaigns documenting the main issues, challenges, injustices, and human stories involved in each case. In 2022 the efforts of UCSC students helped two wrongfully incarcerated individuals secure top-notch, pro-bono legal representation for their appeals. In the winter and spring quarters of 2023, a new group of students from each campus will take up five new cases.
The Reasonable Doubts: Making an Exoneree course takes on urgent and difficult death penalty and life without parole cases regardless of location. The small teams of students must travel to the location where the crime and conviction occurred in order to research and reinvestigate their clients’ cases by interviewing witnesses, jurors, judges, attorneys, clients, and their family members. In this effort, students learn to work as investigative journalists, documentarians, and social justice activists. “Making an Exoneree” at UCSC participates in Giving Day to seek funding to support the cost of student teams traveling with their Georgetown University team members to reinvestigate and document their ‘client’s’ cases.
Rank | Prize | Department | Donors |
---|---|---|---|
1 | $1,000 | Formula Slug | 30 |
2 | $500 | Society of Physics Students (SPS) | 30 |
3 | Pilipino Cultural Celebration | 22 | |
4 | Grupo Folklorico Los Mejicas de UCSC | 22 | |
5 | UCSC Triathlon | 19 | |
6 | Tech4Good Student Programs | 18 | |
7 | KZSC Radio 2022 | 12 | |
8 | PBSci Peer Mentoring Coalition | 8 | |
9 | NCAA Women's Basketball Team | 5 | |
10 | Okinawa Memories Initiative (OMI) | 5 | |
11 | Archaeological Research Center | 2 | |
12 | Cal Teach Fund for Future Math or Science Teachers | 2 | |
13 | Redwood Free Market | 2 | |
14 | The Dickens Project | 2 | |
15 | Alumni Association Scholarship Fund | 2 |
Rank | Prize | Department | Donors |
---|---|---|---|
1 | $1,000 | Formula Slug | 42 |
2 | $500 | Make Seymour Center free to low-income families | 20 |
3 | Adventure Rec | 11 | |
4 | WiSE (Women in Science and Engineering) | 9 | |
5 | Grupo Folklorico Los Mejicas de UCSC | 8 | |
6 | oSTEM (Out in STEM) | 8 | |
7 | UC Santa Cruz Track & Field | 7 | |
8 | Alumni Association Scholarship Fund | 6 | |
9 | Surfing Club | 5 | |
10 | Academic Excellence (ACE) Program | 5 | |
11 | NCAA Women's Basketball Team | 5 | |
12 | KZSC Radio 2022 | 5 | |
13 | Center for Agroecology: Chadwick Garden | 4 | |
14 | Smith Internships and Research Fellowships | 4 | |
15 | Donate to the Chicanx Latinx Year End Ceremony! | 4 |
Rank | Prize | Department | Donors |
---|---|---|---|
1 | $2,500 | Rocket Team at UCSC | 89 |
2 | $1,000 | Alumni Association Scholarship Fund | 78 |
3 | $500 | "Finding Ma": Uplifting Incarcerated Voices | 62 |
4 | Okinawa Memories Initiative (OMI) | 61 | |
5 | City on a Hill Press | 45 | |
6 | UCSC Fencing Club | 23 | |
7 | Pilipino Cultural Celebration | 20 | |
8 | Adventure Rec | 19 | |
9 | PBSci Peer Mentoring Coalition | 13 | |
10 | Academic Excellence (ACE) Program | 11 | |
11 | oSTEM (Out in STEM) | 11 | |
12 | Cal Teach Fund for Future Math or Science Teachers | 10 | |
13 | WiSE (Women in Science and Engineering) | 10 | |
14 | Surfing Club | 9 | |
15 | Grupo Folklorico Los Mejicas de UCSC | 9 |
Rank | Prize | Department | Donors |
---|---|---|---|
1 | $1,000 | Alumni Association Scholarship Fund | 67 |
2 | $500 | Smith Internships and Research Fellowships | 50 |
3 | UCSC Rugby Club | 49 | |
4 | Okinawa Memories Initiative (OMI) | 46 | |
5 | Cal Teach Fund for Future Math or Science Teachers | 40 | |
6 | WiSE (Women in Science and Engineering) | 38 | |
7 | Center for Agroecology: Chadwick Garden | 36 | |
8 | Surfing Club | 36 | |
9 | Academic Excellence (ACE) Program | 35 | |
10 | UC Santa Cruz Track & Field | 35 | |
11 | City on a Hill Press | 35 | |
12 | Adventure Rec | 32 | |
13 | The Dickens Project | 30 | |
14 | Tech4Good Student Programs | 29 | |
15 | NCAA Women's Basketball Team | 29 |
Rank | Prize | Department | Donors |
---|---|---|---|
1 | $1,000 | Okinawa Memories Initiative (OMI) | 30 |
2 | $500 | SlugMUN (Model United Nations) | 24 |
3 | PBSci Peer Mentoring Coalition | 12 | |
4 | Surfing Club | 11 | |
5 | Adventure Rec | 11 | |
6 | UCSC Rugby Club | 10 | |
7 | "Finding Ma": Uplifting Incarcerated Voices | 10 | |
8 | Alumni Association Scholarship Fund | 9 | |
9 | WiSE (Women in Science and Engineering) | 9 | |
10 | Smith Internships and Research Fellowships | 8 | |
11 | NCAA Women's Basketball Team | 8 | |
12 | Cal Teach Fund for Future Math or Science Teachers | 7 | |
13 | UCSC SACNAS Chapter | 7 | |
14 | iGEM 2022 | 6 | |
15 | KZSC Radio 2022 | 6 |
Rank | Prize | Department | Donors |
---|---|---|---|
1 | $1,000 | NCAA Women's Basketball Team | 36 |
2 | $500 | Tech4Good Student Programs | 28 |
3 | Okinawa Memories Initiative (OMI) | 24 | |
4 | Center for Agroecology: Chadwick Garden | 7 | |
5 | KZSC Radio 2022 | 6 | |
6 | Pacific Art and Visual Studies Fund | 4 | |
7 | oSTEM (Out in STEM) | 4 | |
8 | Research Ctr for Americas: Dolores Huerta Archives | 3 | |
9 | Adventure Rec | 3 | |
10 | The Dickens Project | 3 | |
11 | UCSC Rugby Club | 2 | |
12 | Archaeological Research Center | 2 | |
13 | Arts Dean's Fund for Excellence & Equity | 2 | |
14 | Undergraduate Research in Science and Technology | 2 | |
15 | Academic Excellence (ACE) Program | 2 |
Rank | Prize | Department | Donors |
---|---|---|---|
1 | $2,500 | "Finding Ma": Uplifting Incarcerated Voices | 99 |
2 | $1,000 | City on a Hill Press | 95 |
3 | $500 | Okinawa Memories Initiative (OMI) | 80 |
4 | Slugbotics | 48 | |
5 | Adventure Rec | 44 | |
6 | UCSC Rugby Club | 32 | |
7 | Taza Tal | 23 | |
8 | PBSci Peer Mentoring Coalition | 22 | |
9 | Surfing Club | 19 | |
10 | Society of Physics Students (SPS) | 17 | |
11 | Fisheries Collaborative Program | 17 | |
12 | Alumni Association Scholarship Fund | 16 | |
13 | Center for Agroecology: Chadwick Garden | 11 | |
14 | Cal Teach Fund for Future Math or Science Teachers | 11 | |
15 | Tech4Good Student Programs | 10 |
Rank | Prize | Department | Donors |
---|---|---|---|
1 | $10,000 | "Finding Ma": Uplifting Incarcerated Voices | 281 |
2 | $5,000 | Okinawa Memories Initiative (OMI) | 261 |
3 | $2,000 | City on a Hill Press | 192 |
4 | Adventure Rec | 177 | |
5 | Alumni Association Scholarship Fund | 167 | |
6 | Formula Slug | 153 | |
7 | Tech4Good Student Programs | 126 | |
8 | Surfing Club | 117 | |
9 | UCSC Rugby Club | 112 | |
10 | NCAA Women's Basketball Team | 110 | |
11 | Rocket Team at UCSC | 108 | |
12 | PBSci Peer Mentoring Coalition | 91 | |
13 | WiSE (Women in Science and Engineering) | 87 | |
14 | KZSC Radio 2022 | 83 | |
15 | Smith Internships and Research Fellowships | 79 |
Rank | Prize | Department | Donors |
---|---|---|---|
1 | $2,500 | Alumni Association Scholarship Fund | 21 |
2 | $1,000 | Cal Teach Fund for Future Math or Science Teachers | 16 |
3 | Smith Internships and Research Fellowships | 14 | |
4 | Academic Excellence (ACE) Program | 13 | |
5 | Treehouse Childhood Cancer Initiative | 12 | |
6 | WiSE (Women in Science and Engineering) | 10 | |
7 | Girls in Engineering | 9 | |
8 | Redwood Free Market | 9 | |
9 | Okinawa Memories Initiative (OMI) | 8 | |
10 | UCSC Rugby Club | 8 | |
11 | Center for Agroecology: Chadwick Garden | 8 | |
12 | City on a Hill Press | 7 | |
13 | Educational Opportunity Programs (EOP) | 7 | |
14 | Tech4Good Student Programs | 7 | |
15 | Institute of the Arts and Sciences | 7 |
Rank | Prize | Department | Donors |
---|---|---|---|
1 | $1,500 | "Finding Ma": Uplifting Incarcerated Voices | 34 |
2 | $750 | UCSC SACNAS Chapter | 26 |
3 | $500 | Okinawa Memories Initiative (OMI) | 25 |
4 | UCSC Fencing Club | 10 | |
5 | Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers | 9 | |
6 | Adventure Rec | 8 | |
7 | Formula Slug | 8 | |
8 | Tech4Good Student Programs | 8 | |
9 | WiSE (Women in Science and Engineering) | 7 | |
10 | City on a Hill Press | 7 | |
11 | Alumni Association Scholarship Fund | 6 | |
12 | College Scholars Program | 4 | |
13 | Surfing Club | 4 | |
14 | UCSC Rugby Club | 4 | |
15 | Pilipino Cultural Celebration | 4 |
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