I 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5193 

To award a congressional gold medal to Barry C. Scheck and to Peter 

Neufeld in recognition of their outstanding service to the Nation and 

to justice as co-founders and co-directors of the Innocence Project. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 29, 2008 

Mr. RUSH (for himself, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. 

GUTIERREZ, and Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To award a congressional gold medal to Barry C. Scheck 

and to Peter Neufeld in recognition of their outstanding 

service to the Nation and to justice as co-founders and 

co-directors of the Innocence Project. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 The Congress finds as follows: 

5 (1) To date, 212 innocent people have been ex6 onerated nationwide through DNA testing and the 

7 Innocence Project has worked on the vast majority 


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1 of those cases, with thousands awaiting evaluation in 

2 their last hope for justice. 

3 (2) Fifteen people had been sentenced to death 

4 before exoneration, and the average sentence served 

5 by DNA exonerees has been 12 years. 

6 (3) Approximately 70 percent of those exoner7 ated by DNA testing are members of ethnic minority 

8 groups. 

9 (4) In over 35 percent of the cases the Inno10 cence Project has been involved with, the actual per11 petrator has been identified by DNA testing. 

12 (5) Exonerations have been won in 31 states 

13 and the District of Columbia. 

14 (6) Since 1992, the Innocence Project has 

15 served as a nonprofit legal clinic affiliated with the 

16 Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva 

17 University, serving as a national litigation and pub18 lic policy organization dedicated to exonerating 

19 wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing 

20 and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent 

21 future injustice. 

22 (7) Most clients are poor and have used up all 

23 legal avenues for relief. 

24 (8) DNA testing has been a major factor in 

25 changing the criminal justice system, opening a winVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:34 Jan 31, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5193.IH H5193

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1 dow to correct and prevent wrongful convictions in 

2 cases involving everything from home invasion to 

3 murder. 

4 (9) The Innocence Project has grown to become 

5 much more than the ‘‘court of last resort’’ for in6 mates who have exhausted their appeals and their 

7 mean; it has helped form the Innocence Network: a 

8 group of law schools, journalism schools, public de9 fender offices, and other independent entities across 

10 the country that assist inmates trying to prove their 

11 innocence whether or not the cases involve biological 

12 evidence which can be subjected to DNA testing. 

13 (10) Peter Neufeld authored the seminal work 

14 in criminal law, ‘‘The Near Irrelevance of Daubert 

15 to Criminal Justice and Some Suggestions for Re16 form’’ in the American Journal of Public Health 

17 (Vol. 95, No. S1 2005). 

18 (11) The Innocence Project has analyzed the 

19 wrongful convictions proven by DNA evidence in 

20 order to determine what causes them—across all 

21 criminal cases, not just those where DNA can prove 

22 innocence—and identify the reforms that can pre23 vent them while increasing the accuracy of the crimi24 nal justice system. The lead causes include eyeVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:34 Jan 31, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5193.IH H5193

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1 witness misidentification, problems with the analysis 

2 of forensic evidence, and false ‘‘confessions’’. 

3 (12) With local advocates and partners, the In4 nocence Project consults with legislators and law en5 forcement officials on the Federal, State, and local 

6 levels, conduct research and training, produce schol7 arship and propose a wide range of remedies to pre8 vent wrongful convictions while continuing to work 

9 to free innocent inmates through the use of post10 conviction DNA testing. 

11 (13) In addition to serving as co-founders and 

12 co-directors of the Innocence Project, Barry C. 

13 Scheck and Peter Neufeld are Commissioners on the 

14 New York State Commission of Forensic Science. 

15 (14) Barry C. Scheck and Peter Neufeld, along 

16 with Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Jim Dwyer, 

17 are the authors of Actual Innocence: When Justice 

18 Goes Wrong and How to Make it Right. 

19 (15) Additionally, Barry C. Scheck served on 

20 the board of directors of the National Institute of 

21 Justice’s Commission on the Future of DNA Evi22 dence, is co-chair of the DNA Task Force of the Na23 tional Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and, 

24 in 1996, received that Association’s prestigious RobVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:34 Jan 31, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5193.IH H5193

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1 ert C. Heeney Award for his contributions to the As2 sociation. 

3 (16) Barry C. Scheck is a graduate of Yale 

4 University and University of California at Berkeley’s 

5 Boalt School of Law. 

6 (17) Barry C. Scheck, before joining the faculty 

7 of Cardozo Law School, worked for 3 years as a 

8 staff attorney at The Legal Aid Society in New York 

9 City. 

10 (18) Peter Neufeld is a graduate of the Univer11 sity of Wisconsin and New York University’s School 

12 of Law. 

13 (19) Peter Neufeld, before joining Cardozo Law 

14 School, taught trial advocacy at Fordham University 

15 Law School and was a staff attorney with the Legal 

16 Aid Society of New York. 

17 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

18 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

19 the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tem20 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

21 for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, to Barry 

22 C. Scheck and to Peter Neufeld a gold medal of appro23 priate design in recognition of their outstanding service 

24 to the Nation and to justice as co-founders and co-direc25 tors of the Innocence Project. 


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1 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purpose of the 

2 presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 

3 of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the 

4 ‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike 2 gold medals with suitable em5 blems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the 

6 Secretary. 

7 SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

8 Under such regulations as the Secretary may pre9 scribe, the Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

10 bronze of the gold medals struck under section 2 at a price 

11 sufficient to cover the costs of the medals, including labor, 

12 materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 

13 SEC. 4. NATIONAL MEDALS. 

14 The medals struck under this Act are national medals 

15 for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code. 

16 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS; PROCEEDS 

17 OF SALE. 

18 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

19 hereby authorized to be charged against the United States 

20 Mint Public Enterprise Fund an amount not to exceed 

21 $30,000 to pay for the cost of each medal authorized 

22 under section 2. 

23 (b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 

24 sale of duplicate bronze medals under section 3 shall be 


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1 deposited in the United States Mint Public Enterprise 

2 Fund. 

Æ 


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