Duke University announced on Wednesday that it would create a center to promote criminal justice and train lawyers to fight wrongful convictions. The university said it would spend $1.25-million on the center, which will be part of its law school’s Wrongful Convictions Clinic and Innocence Project.

The yearlong prosecution of three innocent Duke lacrosse players exposed serious problems in the legal system, the university said in its announcement.

“Their ordeal reminded all of us that our legal system is imperfect and innocent people can be accused unfairly,” Duke’s president, Richard H. Brodhead, said in a written statement. “I am determined that we will make some good come out of the grave injustice that took place,” he said.

The new center will develop an undergraduate course on wrongful convictions and run workshops on topics such as eyewitness identifications and false confessions. Students will also study prisoners’ claims of wrongful conviction and possible reforms to the criminal-justice system.

As for the exonerated lacrosse players, they settled with Duke in June and now say they will sue the city of Durham, N.C., for their treatment by law-enforcement authorities if it does not pay them $10-million each, the Raleigh News & Observer reported. —Sara Lipka