The Department of Justice (DOJ) has initiated a sweeping set of programs to identify the factors that can lead to a wrongful conviction, including efforts to help state and local law enforcement agencies address the possibility that someone may have been wrongfully convicted in their jurisdiction. Through the National Institute of Justice (NIJ; the research and evaluation agency in the Office of Justice Programs), DOJ is assisting states in reviewing their convictions in certain serious violent crimes to find any cases where DNA evidence might prove actual innocence and lead to exoneration.