We work to help free innocent people from prison and transform the criminal legal system. The Innocence Project works to free innocent people from prison and prevent wrongful convictions. The Innocence Project's mission is to free the staggering numbers of innocent people who remain incarcerated and to bring substantive reform to the system responsible for their unjust imprisonment. The Innocence Project is a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating innocent people who are wrongfully convicted — primarily through DNA testing — and reforming the criminal legal system to prevent future injustice. First launched as a legal clinic in 1992 by co-founders Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, the Innocence Project became an independent nonprofit in 2004 and maintains an affiliation with Cardozo today.