Their most prominent success, the notorious Ford Heights Four case, is recounted in The Promise of Justice, a co-authored work by Protess and Rob Warden. The 1998 book has received the Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE) Medal Award and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. The widely publicized efforts of Protess to expose miscarriages of justice and rally support to repair the criminal justice system has been recognized with awards from the ACLU of Illinois, the Southern Center for Human Rights, and the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration.
Starting this summer, Protess will continue this work as co-director, with Northwestern law professor Lawrence Marshall, of a new Center for Wrongful Convictions and the Death Penalty to be housed at Medill and the Law School. The Center will strive to identify possible miscarriages of justice, expose cases that led to wrongful convictions, publicize the plight of the wrongfully convicted, and engage in advocacy to right legal wrongs.