Former death row inmate Kirk N. Bloodsworth, and John F. Terzano, president of The Justice Project, based in Washington, D.C., will address criminal justice system problems that lead to wrongful convictions and opportunities for reform, on Tues., April 19, at 6 p.m. in the Bernath Auditorium of the David Adamany Undergraduate Library on campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.

"The DNA cases have done more than uncover individual miscarriages of justice. They expose serous flaws in the criminal justice process--from police investigation, through prosecution, to the courts--that cry out for reform," said Marvin Zalman, professor of the Wayne State Criminal Justice department.

A former Marine, Bloodsworth spent nine years in a Maryland prison, including two on death row, for a crime he did not commit. In 1993, his capital conviction was the first in the United States to be overturned by DNA evidence. A decade later, a DNA match was made in the 20-year-old case, and in 2004, the guilty party was convicted of the murder.

Bloodsworth's story was instrumental in passing the first piece of federal death penalty reform legislation. This year, Congress will be asked to appropriate funds to implement the provisions outlined in the law. If fully funded, the Innocence Protection Act (IPA) would provide significant monies to states to implement the "Kirk Bloodsworth Post-Conviction DNA Testing Program," which allows for DNA testing of individuals who may have been wrongfully convicted. The law also provides significant funds to improve the quality of representation in death penalty cases.

A native of Detroit, Terzano has worked on issues of social justice for more than 25 years in the U.S. and abroad. As president of The Justice Project, he has advocated passage of the IPA, worked with state and national groups on criminal justice reform and collaborated with lawyers representing death row inmates.

This series on Wrongful Conviction is being sponsored by the Department of Criminal Justice, along with the Anthropology Department, the Law School, the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies and the Center for Molecular Medicine/Genetics at WSU.

Wayne State University is a premier institution offering more than 350 academic programs through 12 schools and colleges to more than 33,000 students.