Legal Non-Profit Launches Website

Chicago Software Solutions redesigns website for innovative new innocence project at Northwestern University School of Law's Bluhm Legal Clinic.

September 2010 / --
Chicago Software Solutions announces the successful launch of a new website for the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth (CWCY), a leading non-profit working to ensure evidence used against convicted youth is reliable and accurate. The CWCY is a joint project of the Center of Wrongful Convictions and Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern University School of Law's Bluhm Legal Clinic. It is the first innocence project in the country focused solely on the specific susceptibility of youth to wrongful conviction. View the CWCY redesign.

"The CSS team spent a lot of time on the front end trying to understand our project and our needs. It paid off in spades...

Josh Tepfer
Staff Attorney, CWCY

CWCY engaged CSS to create a website to aid its campaign to greatly reduce the number of youth who are convicted and sentenced to long prison sentences based on unreliable evidence. CSS's web site provides the legal community and the general public with information concerning current case investigations, emerging news stories, resources and advocacy materials, and other information relating to wrongfully convicted youth. CWCY asked CSS to design a site that would emphasize newly published or important content while making databased resources simple and clear to access. Important, too, was the need to implement familiar brand-Northwestern visual cues, general structure, and styling elements.

To meet these goals, CSS developed a highly functional website with build-in content management tools designed to give the CWCY staff ability to create, update, and publish content quickly and easily. A robust content database makes it possible for visting users to retrieve categorically and regionally relevant resources and information. One of the new site's most compelling tools is the database of exoneree profiles – a listing of exonerated youth from around the country. These compelling stories, and other resources related to these cases, can be easily viewed on the site.

"We needed a Web site where lawyers, advocates, and the general public could learn about the issue of wrongfully convicted youth and could easily access supporting materials," said Josh Tepfer, Staff Attorney at CWCY. "The CSS team spent a lot of time on the front end trying to understand our project and our needs. It paid off in spades, as the design and software was exactly what we were looking for. There are many innocence projects throughout the country, and all of them have Web sites. I think ours is one of the best."

View CWCY.org

Custom website development and best-in-class support are available for businesses and organizations looking to stay competitive and relevant. For more information about how we can help you, email info@chicagoIT.com.

About Chicago Software Solutions
Chicago Software Solutions is an experienced custom software development and IT Consultation firm. For more information about Chicago Software, visit www.chicagoit.com or email info@chicagoIT.com.