By Cara Walsh

The Summer Northwestern

Most students begin their summer internship hoping to gain experience, make money or even finagle a job. Aspiring journalist Doug Spitzer wants to change the world.

Spitzer, 18, of Skokie, is interning this summer at Northwestern’s Center on Wrongful Convictions. Alongside ten other interns, he researches historical cases of wrongful convictions in the United States.

“We’re working to build an archive to better inform the public about the causes and circumstances of wrongful convictions, including both the exonerations and a summary of the cases,” Spitzer said. “Since early June, I’ve researched and completed five cases.”

But it’s not easy. Working on the project can mean examining documents that date back centuries, according to Rob Warden, the center’s executive director.

“We’re looking at all of the cases in the United States basically since the beginning, in Jamestown,” he said. “We want to establish a comprehensive and searchable database. Right now, we’re focusing on sexual assault and murder cases.”

Launched at the end of 1999, the center primarily works with the backing of the law school. It tries to remedy serious errors of the U.S. criminal justice system, particularly wrongful convictions, and has been involved in 12 of 18 death row exonerations in Illinois since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977.

The center operates in three ways. First, it provides representation for the wrongfully convicted. In 2004, lawyers from the center were instrumental in securing the release of Gordon Steidl, who had been sentenced to death for a double murder he did not commit.

It also conducts research and public education campaigns and has held several events where exonerated men can speak about the experiences of being falsely convicted to audience members. The project being worked on by this summer’s intern class is another public education initiative, Warden said, meant to raise awareness about instances of wrongful conviction and promote reform.

“Our ultimate purpose is to use the data to affect criminal justice reforms without compromising public safety,” he said. “For our interns, we hope this will teach them what is involved in the cases, the causes of wrongful convictions and also the research process.”

Interns at the center range in age and experience from high school juniors to third- and fourth-year law students. Most became involved with the center after contacting it directly by e-mail or on the Internet. And although some basic abilities are necessary, applicants’ experience doesn’t matter nearly as much as their passion for what the center does, Warden said.

“We’re willing to accept just on the basis of enthusiasm,” he added. “And we’re grateful for any meaningful help we can get.”

Spitzer experienced that informal application process firsthand. Now fresh out of high school and planning to attend Roosevelt University, this is his second summer working at the center.

He learned of the center while writing a paper on the death penalty for his junior year English class. His stepfather told him that a professor at NU had helped exonerate several men on death row, so Spitzer decided to contact the university. The university connected him with Warden, and Spitzer soon found himself with a summer job.

“I thought it was amazing for one person to stand up for the rights of others in the face of uncertainty,” he said. “When he offered me the job, I said, ‘Yeah, I will do anything.’ He got to know me through those jobs as the summer progressed last year. I told him I want to write and read legal documents and research. He showed me how.”

Working at the center inspired Spitzer to want to do more. This summer he applied and was accepted a second time. He said his work at the center has helped him see society in a new light.

“For better or worse, it’s the information that makes the difference,” he said. “The education the center is giving me is helping me to write better, thinking deeper and see how what I am doing makes life better for myself and for others.”

For Spitzer, going to the center each day involves an 80-minute commute each way. And, like all of the interns there, his work is unpaid. He said money doesn’t matter, though, because the center gives its interns something else in return for their services.

“At the end of the day, I know I’ve accomplished something for the better of society,” he said.

Reach Cara Walsh at [email protected].