Events Upcoming
New Members
Date and Time
Wednesday Apr 12, 2017
5:00 PM - 8:00 PM CDT
Wednesday, April 12 - 5-8pm
5:00 Hosted hors d'oeuvres/cash bar
5:30 Documentary Showing
6:45 Intermission/Q&A with IIP Attorneys
Location
Hoogland Center for the Arts - Club Room
Fees/Admission
Seating is limited for this free documentary showing. Reservations are recommended by contacting illinoisinnocenceproject@uis.edu or calling 217/494-0823
Contact Information
Janet Seitz
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Description
The Illinois Innocence Project (IIP), in partnership with WSEC/Network Knowledge and the Hoogland Center for the Arts, will host a special viewing of the award-winning Ken Burns documentary “The Central Park Five” from 5-8 p.m. Wednesday, April 12, at the Hoogland Center for the Arts.
The film chronicles the “Central Park Jogger” case from the perspective of the five teenagers whose lives were upended by a miscarriage of justice, convicted in 1989 of raping a 28-year-old white woman in New York City’s Central Park. DNA evidence and a confession by a serial rapist later cleared them after the five had spent as long as 13 years in prison.
The documentary showing is a preview to IIP’s Defenders of the Innocent Event, which will feature Exoneree Yusef Salaam, one of the “Central Park Five” teenagers who at age 16 was falsely accused and wrongly imprisoned, and Yusef’s mother, Sharonne Salaam. Sharonne fought tirelessly to prove the innocence of her son and the other boys until they were fully exonerated by DNA 13 years later.
The special viewing will feature hosted hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar reception prior to the documentary start at 5:30 p.m. Intermission will include a Q&A with IIP attorneys. The story of “The Central Park Five” raises important questions about race and class, the failings of our criminal justice system, legal protections for vulnerable juveniles, and basic human rights.
Seating is limited for this free documentary showing. Reservations are recommended by contacting illinoisinnocenceproject@uis.edu or calling 217/494-0823.