Partner Chelsea Crawford attended the annual Innocence Network Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, her third such conference, as an advocate for exonerees and the prevention of wrongful convictions.
“The Innocence Network Conference is among my favorite annual conferences. It truly centers the experiences of exonerees and their families and brings together the brightest minds to share ideas and strategies in the ongoing fight against wrongful convictions,” Chelsea said.
Taking place from March 22 to March 23, 2024, this year’s conference boasted 1,080 attendees, including 280 freed/exonerated attendees, and a total of 55 breakout sessions.
The theme of this year’s conference was “Power in Community.” Content and programming explored themes of interdependence and examined the ways that injustice is experienced, fought, and repaired in a community.
Some of the conference’s breakout sessions included “Getting Your Record Straight: Dealing with Collateral Consequences of Wrongful Conviction,” “Today’s Technology, Tomorrow’s Exonerations: How New Technology Can Entrench and Amplify Racial Bias in Policing,” and “Off the Benches and Into the Trenches: Getting Into Court, Even if Creatively, To Move Cases Forward.”
The Innocence Network Conference brings together directly impacted people, advocates, and others who work to free the innocent, prevent wrongful conviction, and provide post-release support. This annual conference promotes learning and growth through educational programming, relationship-building, collective action, and healing.
Chelsea had the opportunity to meet exonerated individuals and attend presentations about support for released individuals and exonerees, how to prevent wrongful conviction, and how to navigate injustice in communities.
ABOUT CHELSEA CRAWFORD
A journalist-turned-litigator, Chelsea Jones Crawford has extensive experience representing individuals and entities in complex civil matters, including federal civil rights litigation, commercial disputes, and serious personal injury and wrongful death cases. At Brown, Goldstein & Levy, Chelsea has obtained some of the largest settlements in the State of Maryland. In 2021, she obtained a $6.5 million settlement on behalf of the family of Eric Sopp, an unarmed man in distress who was shot and killed by a Baltimore County police officer. In 2020, she helped obtain a nearly $8 million settlement for two men who were wrongfully convicted and imprisoned, and in 2018, she was part of a team that obtained a $9 million settlement on behalf of an innocent man who spent 21 years wrongfully incarcerated. Learn more about Chelsea here.
Founded in 1982, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a law firm based in Baltimore, Maryland, with an office in Washington, D.C. The firm is nationally recognized in a wide variety of practice areas, including complex civil and commercial litigation, civil rights, health care, family law, and criminal defense. Above all else, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a client-centered law firm that brings decades of experience and passionate, effective advocacy to your fight for justice.