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‘THE INNOCENCE FILES’ INTERROGATES THE AMERICAN JUSTICE SYSTEM ON NETFLIX

By Joe Nolan

Police procedurals and true crime programs of all sorts are trending before our eyeballs and in our ear buds courtesy of streaming docuseries and podcasts. The Innocence Files is a new Netflix series that scratches this same itch, but with a twist: It profiles innocent people behind bars and the struggles they face on a long road to freedom. The title refers to The Innocence Project, which was founded by former defense attorneys Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck at Cardozo School of Law in New York City in 1992. The organization was inspired by the advent of DNA evidence technology, which The Innocence Project has leaned on in its mission to free wrongly accused prisoners and even death row inmates awaiting executions for crimes they never committed.

The Innocence Files reads like series-within-series with the nine episodes in its first season divided into categories: The Evidence, The Witness and The Prosecution. Some of the cases presented get followed for more than one episode. Some do not. The episodes also explore cases in different cities in various regions of the country. What holds the The Innocence Files together is its interrogation of the justice system as a whole. The Innocence Files argues that when innocent people are jailed

by a corrupt system it’s whole families, entire communities, and — ultimately — democracy itself that pays the price.

I’m more of a police procedural geek than a true crime fanatic, and The Innocence Files offers a cornucopia of details about how crime investigations play out, and the tools and skill sets that inform them. The Evidence episodes of the series spotlight the field of forensic odontology, which applies dental science to crime investigations. An expert examination of the teeth of an anonymous victim might help to make a positive identification. On the other hand a bite mark on a victim might be treated like a fingerprint if a mold of the suspect’s teeth match a bite pattern on a victim’s skin. However, the patterns of our teeth change with age and dental history, and there is no science supporting the notion that dental patterns are unique — like fingerprints — between individuals. The Innocence Files’ fascinating excavation of the practice reveals that forensic odontology helped to convict Ted Bundy. It also put three of the series’ innocent prisoners behind bars.

Neufeld and Scheck serve as the series’ protagonists — more realistic versions of the crusading lawyers we’re served in Hollywood

courtroom dramas. Their passion for justice and their sense of crusade against an unjust system is real, but so are their tired eyes and the mundane administrative slog that is the greater part of the work of criminal justice lawyers. The unfairly jailed “innocents” actually seem eerily similar — once unique, younger, more vibrant individuals who’ve been stifled and stunted by years or decades behind bars. The most colorful characters in the series are the experts, district attorneys, family members, friends and crime victims who fill-out The Innocence Files’ universe and remind viewers of the complex chess board where criminal justice is played out, and the high stakes that are weighed in the balance.

The series boasts a slew of Academy Award and Emmy winners in production and directorial roles and the series consistently and effectively shifts its tone between a grisly crime documentary, a journalistic investigation that’s mostly very good at producing the necessary receipts and a human drama about time lost and time regained. Time spent with The Innocence Files is time well served.

The Innocence Files debuts on Netflix on April 15.