We're a small clinic at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Our team of students and professors seek to exonerate Wisconsin's wrongfully convicted. Since our founding, we've successfully secured the release of more than thirty wrongfully-convicted individuals.

We only accept cases from individuals who are actually innocent. Therefore, we only take cases in which we expect to find some form of new evidence. We do not represent individuals who raise only procedural or constitutional errors.

We are a clinic of limited size and limited resources. Therefore, we regret that we can't help everyone who applies. We have strict criteria that we use to select our cases. We cannot offer help if any of the following are true:

  • You are currently awaiting trial or are still pursuing direct appeal
  • You are currently represented by an attorney
  • You are not claiming actual innocence
  • You have less than 7 years to serve of initial confinement
  • You are currently on parole, probation, or extended supervision
  • You played a minor role in the crime
  • You feel you should have been convicted of a different crime
  • You acted in self-defense
  • You claim an affirmative defense such as insanity, intoxication, provocation
  • You are not incarcerated in Wisconsin
  • You were convicted of sexual assault for an encounter that you say was consensual. 

Application

If you claim you are innocent of the crime for which you were committed and believe that we can find some new evidence to demonstrate your innocence, please complete an application. We do not accept applications via fax, e-mail, or phone. So you can send an application to:

  1. Complete the Application for Assistance. The application must be completed as fully as possible and submitted by the person claiming innocence. Please do not include any additional documents with the application.  
  2. The completed application should be mailed to:  
    • Wisconsin Innocence Project
      Frank J. Remington Center
      University of Wisconsin Law School
      975 Bascom Mall
      Madison, WI 53706-1399

To be clear, completing an application does not mean that WIP will represent you. The application is only the first step, and completion of an application does not form an attorney-client relationship.

Also, we only discuss applications with the applicant. Therefore, we won't discuss a case or application with family or friends.

Thanks again for visiting our website, 

The Wisconsin Innocence Project

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