Episode Description
This week on the Chicago Justice Podcast, we sit down with Injustice Watch Senior Reporter Dan Hinkel to examine the changing role of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) under State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke.
Cook County has recorded more exonerations than any county in the United States, a reflection of decades of police misconduct, coerced confessions, official corruption, and other systemic failures that have led to approximately 440 wrongful convictions being overturned. Yet despite that history, the CIU's approach to reviewing innocence claims appears to be shifting.
Hinkel discusses how O'Neill Burke has signaled that convictions should only be overturned when there is definitive evidence proving innocence, such as DNA evidence. Critics argue that standard ignores the reality that DNA evidence is rarely available in the types of cases that typically reach conviction review units and could significantly limit future exonerations.
We also explore the philosophy behind Conviction Integrity Units, whether prosecutors can objectively review convictions obtained by their own offices, the role of outside experts in innocence investigations, Kim Foxx's record on exonerations, and O'Neill Burke's history handling wrongful conviction cases.
If Cook County's Conviction Integrity Unit is changing course, what does that mean for people seeking to prove their innocence?
Listen as Dan Hinkel helps unpack one of the most important criminal justice debates facing Cook County today.
Guest: Dan Hinkel, Senior Reporter, Injustice Watch
Topics Covered:
- Cook County's history of wrongful convictions and exonerations
- The Conviction Integrity Unit under Eileen O'Neill Burke
- Whether DNA should be required to overturn convictions
- Conflicts of interest within conviction review units
- Kim Foxx's record on exonerations
- Certificates of Innocence
- The future of innocence claims in Cook County
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