Correction appended.

Anne Driscoll, senior reporter for the Justice Brandeis Law Project at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, was awarded the annual Salem Award on March 20. The award promotes “awareness, understanding and empathy in support of human rights, tolerance and social justice,” according to the Salem Award Foundation website.

Driscoll joined the Justice Brandeis Law Project in 2006. The project utilizes investigative journalism techniques to inspect and overturn wrongful convictions, often in cases where DNA evidence is not obtainable, according to the project’s website.

Last May, Driscoll and the JBLP’s efforts culminated in the successful overturning of the wrongful conviction of Angel Echavarria, after he had served 21 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Driscoll worked on the project for nearly 10 years and Echavarria was the JBIP’s first wrongful conviction investigation.

“Anne was our primary ‘shoe leather reporter’ who worked, often with a translator, to find and interview possible witnesses and others in the Lynn Massachusetts area, where the murder occurred,” stated Schuster Institute founding director Florence Graves in an email to the Justice.

Graves added of Driscoll’s work ethic, “She was tireless and relentless in tracking down every possible lead.”

A 2013 Fulbright Scholarship saw Driscoll relocate to Dublin, Ireland, where she instructed students in investigative journalism techniques as the Journalist Project Manager of the Irish Innocence Project, one of only two Innocence Projects worldwide that combine both journalism and law in order to investigate wrongful convictions.

Graves is an ardent supporter of expanding the use of journalism practices in enacting legal change, as she wrote that overturning wrongful convictions is “an area where investigative journalism can really make an impact: by doing comprehensive, in-depth investigations into cases other journalists or lawyers aren’t going to take on, and shining a light on injustices that would otherwise have gone unnoticed by the public and policymakers.”

Driscoll holds an expansive resume in journalism, having written for publications such as the New York Times, the Baltimore Sun, People and the Boston Globe. Her 2004 People magazine piece “Juiced Up” detailed the use of steroids by teenage boys. According to Driscoll’s biography on the Schuster Institute’s webpage, the article was one of People magazine’s top-five most-read articles in 2004. In addition, Driscoll is a licensed social worker in Massachusetts.

Driscoll received the Salem Award on Sunday at a ceremony in Salem, Mass. The award is named after the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Graves believes that the hysteria involved in accusations of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials are analogous to modern miscarriages of justice, citing, in the case of many wrongful convictions, firmly held beliefs in the “infallibility of eyewitness identification and police investigative methods.”

Graves expanded on the value of Driscoll receiving the award, concluding, “The Salem Award in this case is shining a light not just on Anne’s or the Justice Brandeis Law Project’s work--but on the tragic issue of wrongful convictions.”

A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to the Justice Brandeis Law Project (JBLP) as the Justice Brandeis Innoncence Project (JBIP).