An experiential learning opportunity focused on wrongful convictions affirmed Fatima Noor’s belief she is on the right career path.

The fourth-year Forensic Psychology and Criminal Justice (FPAC) student, who recently received the McCall MacBain Regional Award, says she is even more excited to attend law school following an experiential education opportunity with Youth For Innocence, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping inmates fight wrongful convictions.

The work she completed also ignited a passion for research.

At the end of her third year, Noor decided to try to pursue both FPAC’s practicum opportunity and its thesis stream by taking on the experiential education component over the spring.

Noor’s FPAC 4F92: Practicum instructor, Professor of Child and Youth Studies Voula Marinos, connected her with Youth For Innocence in California. Working remotely, Noor supported people seeking exoneration by accessing online databases and securing case documentation that could be shared with a lawyer.

She says completing the organization’s initial training modules helped her understand the sensitive nature of her work as a volunteer.

“We don’t want to miscommunicate that we’re there for legal advice. We’re just trying to help,” she says.

For each case, Noor collected as many records as were publicly available.

“In the case intake process, we’re given the individual’s name, the year they were initially arrested and an inmate code we can use to search Getting Out, a secure platform for accessing information about people who are in jail in California,” she says.

When she noticed a possible discrepancy or procedural error, Noor reached out to the individual involved to obtain consent to continue investigating. She could then ask family members for additional copies of records such as trial transcripts or parole board notes.

“In FPAC 4F92, we learned how transferable skills can help you in your career pathways,” she says. “One of the skills I was working on was communication, not only trying to improve my active listening but also the empathy aspect, realizing that I need to earn the right to ask some questions.”

This frame of reference helped Noor refine her approach, making a shift to asking open-ended questions and giving people space to share what they thought was important about cases.

In instances where the collected materials suggested a possible wrongful conviction, Noor referred the files to defence attorneys who volunteer their time for the organization.

Over the course of the internship, however, Noor noticed that in situations where cases crossed jurisdictions or crossed borders, there was no ready resource providing Canadian information.

So, outside of her regular internship hours, Noor collaborated with Miah Slater, another Canadian volunteer, to compile a list of Canadian lawyers across all provinces who are experienced in wrongful conviction cases.

Now approaching graduation, Noor continues to volunteer with the organization, though she can offer fewer hours while working on her honours thesis and preparing for graduate school.

In her thesis, which she is completing under the supervision of Assistant Professor of Political Science Danielle McNabb, Noor is studying disciplinary outcomes for Canadian law enforcement officers who have committed intimate partner violence.

With no existing public database of cases, she is deploying the research skills she developed during her internship to track down news reports and other public documents.

“Youth for Innocence was a life-changing experience for me,” says Noor. “I went in with preconceived notions and assumptions, and that placement broke down everything I knew and rebuilt it. I’ve just learned so much.”