Hello and welcome to the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project’s new blog! My name is Shawn Armbrust, executive director of MAIP. I will be authoring and updating this blog along with several other members of our staff and board of directors. In case you aren’t too familiar with our organization, here is a quick breakdown of our organization and our goals:

• We are a non-profit organization that provides investigative and legal assistance to incarcerated people who have been wrongly convicted of crimes.

• Our mission is to seek the exoneration and release of persons who have been convicted of crimes that they did not commit in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

• Because certain aspects of the judicial system make this so difficult, another part of our mission is educating judges, lawmakers, and the public about the causes of wrongful convictions. Through improved laws, an educated judiciary, and an informed public, we believe that the number of wrongful convictions can be decreased.

• Our organization is run by a permanent staff of just two people: we rely on a network of law student volunteers and pro bono lawyers, who investigate and litigate claims of innocence.

We are embarking upon a new Web strategy in order to spread our message of innocence to the greater public. In this blog, we will give you organization news and updates, fundraising information, and discussion of relevant legal topics in the news. We hope to create an online dialogue that brings together capable lawyers, students, and volunteers; people who have been affected by wrongful imprisonment; and anyone interested in the current condition of our country’s legal system. Please join us in an online conversation and share with us your views and thoughts! We welcome feedback and are excited to hear from visitors to our new website!