Innocence Project founder seeks 'conviction integrity unit'

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - The co-founder of a group that has cleared a dozen people wrongfully convicted of crimes wants the Illinois attorney general to create a "conviction integrity unit" to investigate innocence claims.

Bill Clutter helped create the Illinois Innocence Project in 2001. Now he does similar work in Kentucky.

He said on Tuesday that he wrote Attorney General Kwame Raoul (KWAH'-may RAW'-ool) and pitched the idea. He says nonprofit innocence projects can take limited action without law enforcement authority. And most counties are too small to have investigative units.

Raoul's office did not immediately comment.

Illinois is notorious for wrongful convictions. It abolished the death penalty in 2011.

The Cook County State's Attorney's office initiated a conviction integrity unit in 2012. A spokeswoman says 70 people have had convictions reversed since 2017.