Veritas, the research arm of the Northern California Innocence project (NCIP), is examining at the status of eyewitness identification policies and procedures in California vs. identified best practices. Continuing the work of the State Senate's California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice which was chaired by John Van De Kamp, NCIP is working with law enforcement around the state to address incorrect eyewitness identification, which is the single greatest source of wrongful convictions nationwide.

BIO -

Maitreya Badami is a supervising attorney at the Northern California Innocence Project. In addition to investigating and litigating claims of wrongful conviction based on factual innocence, Maitreya is involved in policy advocacy in support of reforming the procedures California police departments use in obtaining eyewitness identification evidence. Eyewitness misidentification is the single largest contributor to wrongful convictions, and Maitreya is currently working with a number of allies in police and sheriffs departments statewide to bring about the adoption of updated procedures designed to reduce the likelihood that a witness will wrongly identify an innocent suspect. She will discuss the social science research that supports the proposed reforms, and give an overview of the progress in California and other states to replace outmoded investigative methods with practices that have been demonstrated in clinical and field studies to improve the reliability of eyewitness evidence.

Before joining the Northern California Innocence Project, Maitreya spent 16 years in criminal defense, both as a deputy public defender and in private practice. She has litigated both trial and appellate cases, in California state and federal courts. She has been a panel attorney for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, litigating direct appeals and habeas corpus petitions.