Building a More Just Future: Impacting Policy Through the Legislature
In addition to our case work, NEIP advocates for legislative reforms that will reduce the risk of wrongful convictions and unjust sentences, create more pathways to freedom, and provide compensation and support for harms done in our name. We are committed to raising public awareness of the prevalence, causes, and costs of wrongful convictions, including bringing to light the racial disparities that exist within the criminal legal system and that have led to a disproportionate number of people of color who have been wrongfully convicted. And we offer our support to coalition efforts to end the oppressive harms of the criminal legal system, from prison construction moratoriums to restoring voting rights for all citizens to ending life without parole sentencing, and more.
Here are just some of the initiatives we have championed this year, oftentimes with community partners:
Senator Patricia Jehlen testifying in support of An Act Preventing False Confessions
Preventing False Confessions in Massachusetts (H1847 / S1136): This year, we partnered with Senator Patricia Jehlen, Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian, and the Innocence Project in pushing forward this vital bill. An Act Preventing False Confessions (H1847 / S1136) would ban law enforcement from using deceptive tactics during interrogations and prevent false confessions and wrongful convictions. The bill also requires police to record all custodial interrogations, a critical safeguard recommended by the Supreme Judicial Court more than two decades ago. If passed, Massachusetts would become a leader in banning and preventing law enforcement from knowingly or recklessly lying to obtain confessions from both juveniles and adults. On June 10, 2025, members of our community, including Representative Lipper-Garabedian, Senator Jehlen, and NEIP’s Executive Director, Radha Natarajan, testified at a committee hearing in support of this legislation. Learn more
“Innocent people, particularly vulnerable ones like youth, people with disabilities, and English language learners, are too often subjected to psychologically coercive techniques during law enforcement interrogations,” said Sen. Patricia D. Jehlen. “By prohibiting deception and requiring the recording of interrogations, Massachusetts can improve transparency, accuracy, and consistency in our criminal legal system. This would not only protect those at risk of being coerced into false confessions, but also strengthen public safety.”
“Wrongful imprisonment impacts individuals, families, and communities, often for generations,” said Radha Natarajan, NEIP Executive Director. “Deceptive tactics used during police interrogations are one of the leading causes of false confessions and, ultimately, wrongful convictions. Recording interrogations is necessary to uncover these deceptive tactics and false confessions. With H1847 / S1136, Massachusetts has an opportunity to be a leader in preventing wrongful convictions and safeguarding the rights of Bay Staters.”
Compensation for People who Have Been Wrongfully Convicted (S1132 / H1965):
When we walk with someone into freedom, it is a joyous moment, but their fight does not end there. Exonerees face challenges receiving compensation for all they have lost.
This year, for the first time, legislators, innocence organizations, and the Attorney General’s office are presenting a “coalition” bill, Acts relative to compensation for victims of wrongful conviction (S1132 & H1965).
On June 3, 2025, members of our community testified at the State House about the losses exonerees and their families faced while wrongfully convicted, the challenges they endured upon release, and the need for improved compensation by the state. Together, we envision a compensation process that is as simple, efficient, and fair as possible for individuals impacted by wrongful convictions.
You can read excerpts from some of the emotional testimony presented below:
“For the last 10 years, I have had a front-row seat to the difficulties people face when they are imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. Those difficulties are not just in seeking freedom from their wrongful convictions, but to thrive in freedom after decades of incarceration.
After being photographed in that iconic shot with their hands held high in triumph, they struggle to find a place to live, get an ID, afford basic necessities, navigate changes in this world, and make up for decades of distant relationships. And they continually struggle with the trauma of incarceration.
Despite these struggles, the state that wrongfully convicted them has done little to support them. To receive any compensation at all, exonerees are forced to retain a lawyer, file civil litigation, sit for depositions, and fight for years. And when they finally receive something, it is never based on the harm they endured but limited by an arbitrary cap.”
– Radha Natarajan, Executive Director, NEIP
“My name is Sean Ellis, I am the Director of the Exoneree Network, which I helped to co-found along with two other Massachusetts exonerees. I was arrested at the age of 19 and spent nearly 23 years in prison on a wrongful conviction…
…Ten years ago, to this day, I was released from prison confinement following that wrongful conviction. While I was in prison, I lost so much. I lost the opportunity to be with family, to meet new people, or even have a job or work toward retirement. I lost the opportunity to grow and to develop as a young man without having to unpack this traumatic experience in prison. When I was released, I only owned a folder containing legal material to my name. I was given a cell phone from my sister. Friends of the family supported me with direct financial assistance and food. And I was fortunate enough to have a family, whom I didn’t know, open up their home to me. I was thankful to be home, yet I had to learn to navigate a living space that I was sharing with strangers while being fresh out of prison. Dealing with these things post-release perpetuated the trauma that I experienced while in there. And having to fight through additional litigation in order to be compensated further perpetuated that trauma. I leave you today with these numbers: the average number of years spent incarcerated for the 44 community members that we at the Exoneree Network serve is 27.8 years, that’s the average amount of years. There is currently a $1 million cap. One million dollars over 27.8 years equals out to $98 a day. I ask you to join us and our stakeholders to do something about this, please.”
– Sean Ellis, Director of the Exoneree Network, NEIP
Extending the time to petition for a new trial in New Hampshire (SB141): We believe that if someone is innocent and in prison, they should be able to go to the Court when there is new evidence about their case. Right now, in New Hampshire, wrongfully convicted people only have three years to go back to the Court, and that leaves innocent people languishing in prison. SB141 would expand the time for an innocent person to petition for a new trial where they've uncovered new evidence or new forensic evidence, key tools that can prove someone's innocence. Unfortunately, despite virtually unanimous passage in the Senate and an overwhelming majority vote in the House, due to political maneuvering and party politics, this bill will not be passed, and New Hampshire clients will continue to languish in prison.
Requiring that custodial interrogations be recorded in New Hampshire (SB 261): This bill would require the recording of all custodial interrogations in New Hampshire and would suppress (prevent the jury from hearing) any statements made during interrogations that are not recorded. Recorded interrogations are critical to discovering false confessions. Many innocent people are incarcerated based on false confessions made during unrecorded interrogations. Recording interrogations preserves this important evidence so we can fight these wrongful convictions.
Additionally, in our collective work to end the oppressive harms of the criminal legal system, we have come out in support of such coalition efforts as:
Eliminating life without parole sentencing by giving all incarcerated persons the opportunity for a parole hearing after serving 25 years of their sentence, and providing each with restorative justice programming (Act to Reduce Mass Incarceration)
Creating closer connections with family and community through improving access to in-person visits in prisons, jails, and the ICE detention unit, as well as the conditions of those visits (Keeping Families Connected)
Establishing the right to a parole hearing for people 55 and older who have served more than 15 years or at least half their sentence; address gaps in existing medical parole legislation to improve access and equity; releasing aging and sick incarcerated people (Elder and Medical Parole)
Decriminalizing drug possession and supporting equitable, effective public health approaches to drug use that expand access to consensual care and treatment while limiting marginalized communities’ contact with the criminal legal system (An Act Relative to Harm Reduction and Racial Justice)
Pausing the building of a new women's prison in Massachusetts for five years and investing in alternatives to incarceration, healing, and re-entry (Jail and Prison Construction Moratorium)
Restoring voting rights to all citizens in Massachusetts, regardless of criminal conviction (Restoring Universal Voting Rights)
Establishing a day dedicated to civil liberties and the constitution; to honor the courage of civil rights leaders of the past and safeguard all of our civil rights today, and ensuring we do not forget the harms committed against Japanese Americans and that we work to prevent its repetition (An Act Designating Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution)
Creating a fair and equitable process for courts to consider and act when a person who has been charged or convicted is a survivor of domestic and sexual violence (An Act Relative to Justice for Survivors)
Passing new laws can take a considerable amount of time and require substantial community support. As we continue to pursue change throughout New England, we hope you will support our efforts by making calls to your legislators and educating your neighbors on some of the important issues that require our collective attention. Together, we know we can create meaningful change for everyone.