Rachel Barkow appointed to Manhattan D.A.'s advisory panel

Professor Rachel Barkow has been appointed by New York County District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. to the Conviction Integrity Policy Advisory Panel, a body of criminal justice experts that will advise the District Attorney’s Office on national best practices and evolving issues in connection with Vance’s new Conviction Integrity Program. The tripartite program aims to prevent wrongful convictions and investigate claims of innocence by those already convicted. Besides the advisory panel, the program entails a conviction integrity chief and a conviction integrity committee made up of senior staff in the District Attorney’s Office.

“As prosecutors, it is our duty to bring our best efforts to bear in every case to ensure that only the guilty are convicted,” Vance said. “And if we have any reason to believe that we have prosecuted or are prosecuting someone who is actually innocent, we must take prompt steps to investigate the matter and see that justice is served.”

In addition to Barkow, who is faculty director of the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law, the advisory panel includes Zachary W. Carter ’75; former Visiting Professor Bruce Green, Louis Stein Professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law; and Robert J. McGuire (LL.M. ’62).

Posted on March 5, 2010