Dr. Laura welcomes wrongful conviction expert and attorney Jeffrey Deskovic and filmmaker Jia Rizvi to Where Work Meets Life™for an eye-opening conversation about wrongful conviction and exoneration advocacy. Jeffrey Deskovic was wrongfully convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and spent sixteen years in prison, from age seventeen to thirty-three, until he was exonerated by DNA evidence. Jia Rizvi is a documentary filmmaker passionate about telling stories of wrongful convictions, whose short documentary, Conviction, and upcoming full documentary, Sixteen Years, are about Jeffrey Deskovic’s story. Dr. Laura hosts a raw and illuminating discussion on Jeffrey’s story, wrongful convictions and the advocacy work required to exonerate the innocent, and Jia’s career in telling these stories.
Jeffrey Deskovic has since become a public speaker, author, teacher, and attorney, and established the Deskovic Foundation to fight for those wrongfully accused the way he was. He tells his harrowing story openly and with a desire to shed light on coerced convictions, wrongful convictions, and what is required to prevent other innocent people from sacrificing years of their lives to a sentence they didn’t deserve. Jia Rizvi became interested in the subject of wrongful convictions when she watched The Hurricane, the film about Reuben Carter that starred Denzel Washington. She embarked on a life of advocacy for the imprisoned innocent and went to film school so she could more effectively tell their stories to larger audiences. The conversation is open, honest, and deeply insightful, opening a door into a world we don’t think enough about. Jia and Jeffrey talk with Dr. Laura about prison reform, the reality of advocacy work, and what it takes to reintegrate into society after being wrongfully imprisoned.
“So when you add it all up, I was wrongfully convicted of a murder and rape. I was given a 15-year-to-life sentence. I was sent to a maximum security prison where, you know, I lost seven appeals. I got turned down for parole, largely because I maintained my innocence, rather than expressing remorse and taking responsibility. Ultimately, I was exonerated through further DNA testing.” - Jeffrey Deskovic
About Jeffrey Deskovic:
Jeffrey was wrongfully convicted for the brutal rape and murder of his high school classmate, Angela Correa, and spent sixteen years in prison from age seventeen to thirty-three until he was finally exonerated by DNA evidence.
Since his exoneration, Jeffrey has delivered over 100 presentations, authored over 200 articles, and given hundreds of print, radio, and television interviews, including multiple appearances on CNN, Al Jazeera America, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He has testified at legislative hearings in New York and Connecticut, where wrongful conviction prevention legislation was considered and worked collaboratively with New Yorkers Against The Death Penalty to ward off capital punishment reinstatement efforts in New York in 2007, and helped legislatively repeal the death penalty in Connecticut. He has conducted numerous seminars at judicial gatherings, bar associations, prosecutorial groups, and other professional associations, is certified as a police and correctional instructor, and has given numerous lectures to soon-to-be graduating classes of police and correction officers.
Jeffrey is a graduate of Mercy College with a B.A. in Behavioral Science and has a master’s degree from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where he wrote a thesis on the causes of wrongful conviction, along with the reforms needed to address them. He co-designed a wrongful conviction college course syllabus, which was taught at Farleigh Dickinson University, and co-taught a wrongful conviction college course as an adjunct professor at Rockland Community College. He was listed in John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s “Fifty at Fifty” book as one of the top 50 standout students in John Jay’s 50-year history, and in 2014 won New York 1’s “New Yorker of the Week” award. In 2015, he won the “Humanitarian of the Year” award from the New Rochelle Chamber of Commerce.
He used $1.5 million of the compensation from his wrongful conviction to establish The Deskovic Foundation, which exonerates the wrongfully convicted and seeks to improve our criminal justice system to prevent wrongful convictions in the future. The Foundation has already exonerated five innocent people and helped free eight other clients while fighting to establish their innocence.
Most recently, Jeffry entered Pace University to pursue a law degree. He obtained his law degree from the Elizabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, twice making the Dean’s List. He is now licensed to practice law in New York State, as well as the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
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Conviction
About Jia Rizvi:
Filmmaker Jia Rizvi pursues stories that explore the conflict between institutional systems and individuals victimized by those institutions in the name of protecting the social order. She is currently investigating the vagaries and inconsistencies of the American Criminal Justice system through the story of Jeffrey Deskovic and other exonerees to have their freedom restored at the cost of irreparable damage to their minds, relationships and families.
In addition, Jia has written over 400 articles for Forbes, co-hosts the Speaking of Crime podcast, and is the Founder and fashion designer of Studio 15. She serves on the board for Youth Represent, an organization that uses legal services, policy advocacy, peer education, and other tools to build power and opportunity for Black, Latiné, and other youth of color who the criminal legal system and other systems of oppression harm the most.
Jia is from Calgary, Alberta, and currently lives in New York City with her husband and son. She is a graduate of the New York Film Academy. “Conviction” is her award-winning debut film.
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Resources:
Innocence Project
“Conviction” trailer
“Conviction” on IMDb
“Sixteen Years” trailer
Deskovic Foundation
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