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Photographs and Interviews by Taryn Simon
Commentary by Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck
In Association with The Innocence Project

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To purchase a copy of The Innocents, please use the link below:

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Photographer Taryn Simon brings us face-to-face with individuals falsely accused and convicted. While mugshots and photoarrays are used to condemn and imprison these innocents, Simon has turned the camera around to document these victims of mistaken identity and perverted justice, photographing the wrongfully convicted at locations that were crucial in these legal cases: the scene of misindentification, the scene of arrest, the alibi location, or the scene of the crime. Through interviews with each, the men and women in this book confront the paradox of innocence and imprisonment, the inability to recover the years stolen from them, and the states’ unconscionable refusal to compensate them or ease their traumatic transition to civilian life.

This compelling book of photographs and interviews with the wrongfully convicted by Taryn Simon is co-authored with commentary and case profiles by Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck. The Innocence Project, founded by leading civil rights attorneys Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck, is responsible for most of the postconviction DNA exonerations in the United States today, many of which are included in this book. On the ten-year anniversary of its founding, the Project continues to free the innocent, striving to transform criminal justice into a more equitable and reliable system.

The failings of the criminal justice system and the use of the death penalty in this country are currently under close scrutiny and an important topic of public debate. The images and voices of The Innocents mark this historic turning point in America.

About the Authors:

TARYN SIMON
Taryn Simon was born in 1975 in New York. She is a graduate of Brown University. In 2001, she was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in Photography. Simon’s photographs have exhibited internationally, and been featured in several publications, including The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. Her work is currently on exhibition at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, A MoMa affiliate, New York and the International Center of Photography, New York. In September, The Innocents will travel to Kunstewerke, Berlin. Taryn Simon is handled by the Gagosian Gallery.

PETER NEUFELD & BARRY C. SCHECK
Peter Neufeld and Barry C. Scheck, co-founded and directs the Innocence Project at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City. The Project provides pro bono representation to inmates throughout the country who claim that DNA testing could prove their innocence. The Project also studies the institutional causes of wrongful convictions and provides remedies to reduce the frequency of future miscarriages of justice. In February 2000, Actual Innocence: Five Days to Execution, and Other Dispatches From the Wrongly Convicted, written by Neufeld, Scheck, and Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Jim Dwyer, was published by Doubleday. Their work has shaped the course of case law across the country and helped establish state and federal legislation setting standards for forensic DNA testing. They both serve as members of the New York State Commission on Forensic Science, a body that regulates all crime laboratories in the state.

Neufeld and Scheck are partners in the law firm Cochran, Neufeld & Scheck, specializing in civil rights and constitutional litigation. Frequently retained by victims of police brutality and racial discrimination, the firm pursues civil rights claims in the courts and seeks systemic change. Some of the firm’s most recent clients include Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant tortured by New York police inside a precinct bathroom, two of the four young men racially profiled and shot at by New Jersey state troopers, and a man beaten to death by jail guards while serving a 90 day sentence for driving while impaired.

Neufeld and Scheck have litigated and taught extensively in both the “hard” and behavioral forensic sciences. Much of their work is of public interest, resulting in an enhanced public awareness of national problems, improving the criminal justice system, and legislative reform.

Hardcover / $34.95 USD
12.5″ x 10″ / 112 pages
104 4-color illustrations
August 2005
Published in association with the Innocence Project
ISBN: 978-1-8841671-88

Download the press release (PDF)

Exhibition Information:

The Innocents exhibition is comprised of the compelling portraits featured on the cover of Taryn Simon`s book of the same name. This exhibition will tour to education and museum venues nationally through 2010.

In The Innocents, photographer Taryn Simon brings us face-to-face with individuals falsely accused and convicted. While mugshots and photoarrays are used to condemn and imprison these innocents, Simon has turned the camera around to document these victims of mistaken identity and perverted justice. Through Simon’s interviews with each, and case studies by leading attorneys Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck, featured on the accompanying wall labels, the men and women confront the paradox of innocence and imprisonment, the inability to recover the years stolen from them, and the states’ unconscionable refusal to compensate them or ease their traumatic transition to civilian life.

The Innocents is organized in conjunction with the Innocence Project, an organization which has used DNA testing to free over 100 people from long-term or death penalty sentences. Taryn Simon’s work has been published in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, and Vanity Fair among other magazines. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2001 and has exhibited internationally.

This exhibition will tour to venues nationally through 2010.

EXHIBITION FACTS
2002-2010 domestic and international tour

Total 45 prints to occupy 200 linear feet:
- 45 electronic pigment prints at 20 x 24″ framed in matte black wood frames w/UV Plexi
- Monitor programmed with 20-minute video of interviews with the subjects
- 2 introductory panels at 20 x 24″
- 45 text panels/wall labels on laminated sintra board at 7 x 10″
- 6-8 week bookings
- Fee: $5,000 plus prorated one-way shipping and insurance
- Artist and Authors are available for panel discussions and lectures
- 15 copies of catalog/publication The Innocents included with each exhibition

Taryn Simon has a separate exhibition of environmental portraits and documentary video that will tour to major museum venues. Details are available upon request. Please contact Klaus Biesenbach at kb@ps1.org / 718-784-2084.