Catalog Search Results
3) Why the innocent plead guilty and the guilty go free: and other paradoxes of our broken legal system
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
How can we be proud of a system of justice that often pressures the innocent to plead guilty? How can we claim that justice is equal when we imprison thousands of poor Black men for relatively modest crimes but rarely prosecute rich white executives who commit crimes having far greater impact? How can we applaud the Supreme Court's ever-more-limited view of its duty to combat excesses by the president? The federal judge Jed S. Rakoff, a leading authority...
Author
Publisher
Feiwel and Friends
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
Adapted for young readers, this true story follows a man who spent thirty years on death row for a crime he didn't commit and how he transformed not only his own spirit, but those of his fellow inmates, until his release in 2015.
Author
Publisher
Citadel Press, Kensington Publishing Corp
Pub. Date
[2022]
Language
English
Description
"From a former federal prosecutor turned champion of the wrongfully convicted, this powerful and profound book follows the stories of women reclaiming their freedom and creates a new blueprint for remaking our deeply flawed criminal legal system." -- Inside front jacket flap.
Working with the Innocence Movement and Leigh Stubbs, a woman denied a fair trial largely due to her sexual orientation, a former federal prosecutor weaves Leigh's story through...
Author
Publisher
University of California Press
Pub. Date
[2017]
Language
English
Description
"In this unprecedented view from the trenches, prosecutor turned champion for the innocent Mark Godsey takes us inside the frailties of the human mind as they unfold in real-world wrongful convictions. Drawing upon both psychological research and shocking--yet true--stories from his own career, Godsey shares how innate psychological flaws and the "tough on crime" political environment can cause investigations to go awry, leading to the conviction...
Author
Publisher
Chicago Review Press
Pub. Date
[2017]
Language
English
Description
Award-winning journalist Thomas Lowenstein makes a convincing, evenhanded case for the wrongful conviction of Walter Ogrod, a man with autism spectrum disorder who lived across the street from the girls family and who has been on death row since 1996. Informed by copious police records, court transcripts, interviews, letters and journals, and more, Lowenstein relates how Ogrodwho bears no resemblance to the man described by several witnesses as a...
Author
Publisher
St. Martin's Press
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
"Marked for Life is the incredible memoir of a wrongfully imprisoned man's epic journey to free himself and others like him. Isaac Wright Jr. was wrongly accused of drug charges in New Jersey and sentenced to life in prison in 1991. He was arrested, tried, and convicted under a draconian "kingpin" statute even though he never dealt drugs a day in his life. Even though the prosecutor knew he was innocent, as did the detectives who investigated and...
Author
Publisher
Skyhorse Publishing
Pub. Date
[2016]
Language
English
Description
"What is worse than having a client on Death Row in Texas? Having a client on Death Row in Texas who is innocent and not knowing if you will be able to stop his execution in time. Grace and Justice on Death Row: A Race Against Time to Free an Innocent Man tells the story of Alfred Dewayne Brown, a man who spent over twelve years in prison (ten of them on Texas infamous Death Row) for a high-profile crime he did not commit, and his lawyer, Brian...
Series
Pub. Date
2010
Language
English
Description
A reporter provides eyewitness testimony that helps sentence a small-time loser to the electric chair for murder. When the reporter himself is fingered in a second murder, he realizes both crimes are the work of a furtive stranger - but will anyone believe him?
Author
Language
English
Appears on list
Formats
Description
"Innocence Project attorney M. Chris Fabricant presents an insider's journey into the heart of a broken, racist system of justice and the role junk science plays in maintaining the status quo. "No one in America will ever know the number of innocent people convicted, sent to prison, and even executed because of the flood of rotten forensics and bogus scientific opinions presented to juries. In this intriguing and beautifully crafted book, Innocence...
Author
Publisher
The New Press
Pub. Date
2023.
Language
English
Description
"The Brady rule was meant to transform the justice system. In soaring language, the Supreme Court decreed in 1963 that prosecutors must share favorable evidence with the defense-part of a suite of decisions of that reform-minded era designed to promote fairness for those accused of crimes. But reality intervened. The opinion faced many challenges, ranging from poor legal reasoning and shaky precedent to its clashes with the very foundations of the...
Publisher
Liveright Publishing Corporation
Pub. Date
[2017]
Language
English
Description
How do wrongful convictions happen, and what are the consequences for the lucky few who are acquitted, years after they are proven innocent? Fourteen exonerated inmates narrate their stories, while another exoneree's case is explored. They detail every aspect of the experience of wrongful conviction, as well as the remarkable depths of endurance sustained by each exoneree who never lost hope.
Author
Publisher
New York University Press
Pub. Date
[2017]
Language
English
Description
"Documentaries like Making a Murderer, the first season of Serial, and the cause célèbre that was the West Memphis Three captured the attention of millions and focused the national discussion on wrongful convictions. This interest is warranted: more than 1,800 people have been set free in recent decades after being convicted of crimes they did not commit. In response to these exonerations, federal and state governments have passed laws to prevent...
Author
Publisher
Crown
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
"An urgent call to free those buried alive by America's legal system, and an inspiring true story about unwavering belief in humanity-from a gifted young lawyer and important new voice in the movement to transform the system. Brittany K. Barnett was only a law student when she came across the case that would change her life forever-that of Sharanda Jones, single mother, business owner, and, like Brittany, Black daughter of the rural South. A victim...
Author
Publisher
Doubleday
Pub. Date
©2020.
Language
English
Description
"By the founder of the first organization in the US committed to freeing the wrongly imprisoned, a riveting story of devotion, sacrifice, and vindication Jim McCloskey was at a midlife crossroads when he met the man who would transform his life. A former management consultant, McCloskey had grown disenchanted with the business world; he enrolled at Princeton Theological Seminary at the age of 37. His first assignment found him a chaplain at Trenton...
Author
Publisher
Basic Books, Hachette Book Group
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
"Tens of thousands of innocent people are behind bars for offenses ranging from misdemeanors to capital crimes. But proving their innocence in the court of law is extraordinarily difficult. After conviction, the presumption of innocence vanishes, and a new presumption of guilt forms and ossifies over time. Our criminal justice system values finality over accuracy, even if it comes at the cost of an innocent person's wrongful conviction and even when...
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