College of Law lecture explores the Psychology and Politics of wrongful convictions

University of Cincinnati College of Law Professor Mark Godsey, a leading scholar, attorney and activist in the Innocence Movement, will discuss his book "Blind Injustice: A Former Prosecutor Exposes the Psychology and Politics of Wrongful Convictions" at a lecture at 12:15 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018, at the College of Law.

In "Blind Injustice," Godsey uses real-life examples from his career as a prosecutor and innocence lawyer to explore how memory malleability, confirmation bias, cognitive dissonance and other human frailties skew outcomes in the criminal justice system and in daily life.

"Blind Injustice" has been widely reviewed and acclaimed in the national media, including by The Economist, The New York Review of Books, Time, The Nation, Salon, and many others. The Cincinnati Opera will premiere Blind Injustice: The Opera in July 2019, and filming is underway for a television docu-series based on the book.

Professor and OIP Director Mark Godsey will present the Schott Lecture on September 11, 2018.

Meet the Lecturer

Professor Godsey co-founded and directs the Ohio Innocence Project at Cincinnati Law, one of the most active and successful Innocence Projects in the country. To date, the OIP has secured the release of 27 individuals on grounds of innocence who together served more than 500 years in prison for crimes they did not commit.

A regular commentator on issues relating to wrongful conviction in both the local and national press, he has appeared on or been quoted in many national and international television program, including Dateline NBC, BBC, Forensic Files, NPR, the New York Times, Newsweek, People and the Wall Street Journal.

Professor Godsey has been a leading figure in spreading awareness of wrongful convictions around the world, and with assisting lawyers and scholars in other countries to establish mechanisms for fighting wrongful convictions. He has widely lectured and consulted on the subject in Asia, Africa and Europe.

A graduate of the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University, he clerked for Chief Judge Monroe G. McKay of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Salt Lake City, Utah; practiced civil litigation and white collar-criminal defense at Jones, Day, Reavis and Pogue in Chicago and New York City; and served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he prosecuted federal crimes ranging from political corruption to hijacking to organized crime.