Some people may be surprised to learn the UC Irvine Newkirk Center for Science & Society partners with the University of Michigan Law School and the Michigan State University College of Law on a notable project, the National Registry of Exonerations, a digital archive containing more than 4,100 wrongful-conviction cases in the United States. The registry’s primary goal is to provide comprehensive information that will help to reform the criminal justice system and reduce if not eliminate wrongful convictions.

From his unpretentious office in the UC Irvine School of Social Ecology, Simon Cole, Ph.D., the registry director and a professor of criminology, law and society, oversees what he describes as “the engine of the innocence movement.” The registry has been assembling vast amounts of data and other resources to create articles about all exonerations recorded in the United States. “We average 200 new stories every year. We also make corrections daily, which is remarkable for a staff of only three full-time employees,” said Cole.

Cole teaches Miscarriages of Justice, a large lecture course with more than 100 students. Undergraduate students whose interest in criminology is piqued often sign up for his smaller course, a spring field study open to 40 students who work directly with the registry. They are placed onto teams of five. Cole selects eight nonurgent cases and assigns one to each team.

The teams have the entire 10-week quarter to craft their stories, which includes researching the crime, investigation, trial, appeal and outcome or exoneration. Team members decide who will be responsible for each stage and then collaborate with one another to write the story, adhering to journalistic ethics and standards. The course satisfies both UC Irvine’s upper division writing requirement and the School of Social Ecology’s field study requirement. As editor, Cole ensures the students’ articles meet the registry’s high journalistic standards. He is proud when his students’ stories are placed into the registry archive.

One of Cole’s first-generation college students, Dulce Perez Zavala, completed her B.A. in criminology, law and society in 2024 and was selected as the student speaker at the School of Social Ecology commencement ceremony. She told Mimi Ko Cruz, the school’s communications director, “I believed that if I took courses in CLS, I would have a better understanding of the laws and our legal system. I learned about the differences between law on the books, law in between and law in action and that laws impact everyone in disproportionate ways.”

Zavala conducted research on the Walter Snyder case for her field study. Her narrative was published in the registry. “Because of that experience, I want to continue conducting research about injustices in our communities,” she said.

UC Irvine is profoundly grateful to everyone who has donated to the National Registry of Exonerations. These gifts support the operations of the Registry so that Cole and his colleagues can continue to record every known criminal exoneration in the United States and study the causes, consequences and costs of wrongful conviction.