Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth

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The Center on Wrongful Convictions youth clinic, part of the Center on Wrongful Convictions within Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law's Bluhm Legal Clinic, is a non-profit legal clinic that represents children thought to have been convicted of crimes they did not commit. Co-founded by Northwestern Law Professor Steven Drizin and directed by Professor Laura Nirider, it was the first organization in the world to focus exclusively on wrongfully convicted children.^{[citation needed]} Through its research, scholarship, teaching, and advocacy, the Center has developed expertise in the problem of false confessions, police interrogation practices, and constitutional doctrine governing the interrogation room.

In collaboration with partners across the United States, the clinic is active in the federal and state appellate, post-conviction, and habeas corpus process. Its faculty and students not only represent individuals but they also submit amicus curiae (friend-of-the-court) briefs before courts around the globe, including the United States Supreme Court, which cited the Center as an authority on juvenile false confessions in the 2011 case J.D.B. v. North Carolina. The Center's faculty have been particularly active in the public outreach and professional education space, speaking about interrogations and confessions before audiences that range from legal stakeholders like judges, attorneys, police, and law professors to the general public at events hosted by institutions of higher education, religious organizations, and corporate sponsors. Its faculty have also been quoted widely in media reports and academic articles addressing wrongful convictions, interrogations, and confessions.