Actual Innocence by
Here are the stories of innocent men and women--and the system that put them away under the guise of justice. Now updated with new information, Actual Innocence sheds light on "a system that tolerates lying prosecutors, slumbering defense attorneys and sloppy investigators" (Salt Lake Tribune)--revealing the shocking flaws that can derail the legal process and the ways that DNA testing has often shattered so-called solid evidence that condemned American citizens to death.
Broken Scales by
However rare, some injustices are "objectively" determined, often through DNA evidence, which allows us to squarely establish innocence despite a conviction. But the stories selected for this book represent a cross-section: some are such that (almost) every reader will see and acknowledge the wrong, and some interviews may leave the readers scratching his head, wondering "what was the author thinking?" By speaking with those impacted by injustices that occurred over the last 60 years--during the 1950s at the height of McCarthyism, the 1980s in Louisiana and New York when race played a large a role in how justice was dispensed and how the media portrayed the participants, the aftermath of 9/11 when many were prepared to believe the worst, and the time shortly before the Supreme Court decided that marriage could be granted to same-sex couples--this book requires readers to look at injustice in the context of our times. The stories told by the participants themselves give the reader insight into the challenges of dispensing, and even commenting on, justice. The author asks difficult questions: Is there an injustice when the game seems to have been played fairly, but the System still got it wrong? Is it an injustice when a jury, properly charged with the evidence fairly presented, convicts the wrong man? Or when people, so passionate in their own point of view, use over-the-top tactics to persuade others of their position? These interviews add to the important--and what must be ongoing--conversation about injustice in America
Conviction of the Innocent by
Over the last several decades over 250 citizens convicted of major felonies were found innocent and were exonerated. Today, thanks to the work of psychologists and other criminal justice researchers, the psychological foundations that underlie conviction of the innocent are becoming clear. There is real hope that these findings can lead to positive reforms, reduce the risk of miscarriages of justice, and avoid the consequences of wrongful convictions to victims and society. In this book, Editor Brian Cutler presents a state-of-the-field review of current psychological research on conviction of the innocent. Chapter authors investigate how the roles played by suspects, investigators, eyewitnesses, and trial witnesses and how pervasive systemic issues contribute to conspire to increase the risk of conviction of the innocent. The chapters skillfully examine psychological perspectives on such topics as police interrogations, confessions, eyewitness identification, trial procedures, juries, and forensic science, as well as broader issues such as racism and tunnel vision within the justice system. This comprehensive volume represents an important milestone for research on miscarriages of justice. By bringing psychological theories and research to bear on this social problem, the authors derive compelling recommendations for future research and practical reform in police and legal procedures.
Crime Policy in America by
The second edition of Crime Policy in America describes the process of policy-making and the substantive nature of policy directions in crime and justice in America, particularly from the beginning of the 1970s. This book examines the nature of presidential policy-making in crime and justice from Nixon to Obama, congressional policy-making since the birth of the Bill of Rights, and judicial policy-making since the promulgation of the Judicial Act of 1789. The perspective of this book is deeply historical, sociological, and legalistic. Historically, the book has explored the evolution of different policy strategies at different periods of American history; sociologically, it scrutinized the impact of the get-tough policy paradigm on crime and justice, and from a legal perspective it has examined the conflict and the consensus of Congress and the federal judiciary on different issues of crime and justice from drug crimes to sex crimes to counterterrorism. The second edition of the book has particularly illuminated the changing directions of US crime policy from the dominance of the get tough approach in the 1980s and 1990s to a more balanced approach to crime control and prevention in the beginning of the 21sr century."
Do No Wrong: Ethical Issues for Prosecution and Defense by
Criminal law practice is a minefield of legal ethics issues for both the prosecution and defense. There are a myriad of ethical questions requiring not only an understanding of the relevant ethics rules, but also applicable constitutional and statutory law as well as rules of criminal procedure and evidence. This book aims to put these and other ethical questions on the radar screens of criminal practitioners.
Free Market Criminal Justice by
Free Market Criminal Justice explains how faith in democratic politics and free markets has undermined the rule of law in US criminal process. America's unique political development, characterized by skepticism of government power, has restrained the state's role not only in the economic realmbut also in key parts of its criminal justice systems. From charging decisions through trials or guilty pleas and appeals, legal safeguards against bias, wrongful convictions, and excessive punishment rely more on politics and laissez-faire economic ideas than on enforceable rules and duties.Prosecutorial discretion is checked not by legal standards but by popular elections, and plea bargaining law is wholly built on a faith in unregulated markets - in contrast to the systems in other common law countries that also have neoliberal economies, adversarial process, and high guilty plearates.This book argues that democratic and market ideas have led to more partisan prosecutors, narrower duties of evidence disclosure, and to a right to defense counsel that carefully accommodates preexisting wealth inequalities. Most important, democratic and market values have diminished theresponsibility of judges - and of the state itself - for the accuracy and integrity of court judgments. Paradoxically, skepticism of government has expanded state power, reduced checks on executive officials, marginalized juries, and contributed to record incarceration rates. In contrast to recentarguments for re-invigorating democracy in criminal process, Free Market Criminal Justice argues that, to strengthen the rule of law, US criminal justice needs less democracy, fewer market mechanisms, and more law.
The Innocence Commission by
Beyond Exonerating the Innocent: Author on WAMU Radio Convicted Yet Innocent: The Legal Times Review Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2008 DNA testing and advances in forensic science have shaken the foundations of the U.S. criminal justice system. One of the most visible results is the exoneration of inmates who were wrongly convicted and incarcerated, many of them sentenced to death for crimes they did not commit. This has caused a quandary for many states: how can claims of innocence be properly investigated and how can innocent inmates be reliably distinguished from the guilty? In answer, some states have created "innocence commissions" to establish policies and provide legal assistance to the improperly imprisoned. The Innocence Commission describes the creation and first years of the Innocence Commission for Virginia (ICVA), the second innocence commission in the nation and the first to conduct a systematic inquiry into all cases of wrongful conviction. Written by Jon B. Gould, the Chair of the ICVA, who is a professor of justice studies and an attorney, the author focuses on twelve wrongful conviction cases to show how and why wrongful convictions occur, what steps legal and state advocates took to investigate the convictions, how these prisoners were ultimately freed, and what lessons can be learned from their experiences. Gould recounts how a small band of attorneys and other advocates -- in Virginia and around the country -- have fought wrongful convictions in court, advanced the subject of wrongful convictions in the media, and sought to remedy the issue of wrongful convictions in the political arena. He makes a strong case for the need for Innocence Commissions in every state, showing that not only do Innocence Commissions help to identify weaknesses in the criminal justice system and offer workable improvements, but also protect society by helping to ensure that actual perpetrators are expeditiously identified, arrested, and brought to trial. Everyone has an interest in preventing wrongful convictions, from police officers and prosecutors, who seek the latest and best investigative techniques, to taxpayers, who want an efficient criminal justice system, to suspects who are erroneously pursued and sometimes convicted. Free of legal jargon and written for a general audience, The Innocence Commission is instructive, informative, and highly compelling reading.
The New Criminal Justice Thinking by
A vital collection for reforming criminal justice After five decades of punitive expansion, the entire U.S. criminal justice system-- mass incarceration, the War on Drugs, police practices, the treatment of juveniles and the mentally ill, glaring racial disparity, the death penalty and more -- faces challenging questions. What exactly is criminal justice? How much of it is a system of law and how much is a collection of situational social practices? What roles do the Constitution and the Supreme Court play? How do race and gender shape outcomes? How does change happen, and what changes or adaptations should be pursued? The New Criminal Justice Thinking addresses the challenges of this historic moment by asking essential theoretical and practical questions about how the criminal system operates. In this thorough and thoughtful volume, scholars from across the disciplines of legal theory, sociology, criminology, Critical Race Theory, and organizational theory offer crucial insights into how the criminal system works in both theory and practice. By engaging both classic issues and new understandings, this volume offers a comprehensive framework for thinking about the modern justice system. For those interested in criminal law and justice, The New Criminal Justice Thinking offers a profound discussion of the complexities of our deeply flawed criminal justice system, complexities that neither legal theory nor social science can answer alone.
Race and Justice by
In this investigation of some 350 wrongful convictions of African American men, Marvin Free and Mitch Ruesink critically examine how issues of race undercut the larger goals of our criminal justice system.
Free and Ruesink expand the focus of wrongful conviction studies to include not only homicide, but also sexual assault, drug dealing, and nonviolent crime. Their careful analysis reveals that black men accused of crimes against white victims account for a disproportionate number of wrongful convictions. They also uncover other disturbing failings on the part of prosecutors, police, witnesses, and informants. Highlighting the systemic role of race, the authors challenge us to move past the ¿just a few bad apples¿ explanation and to instead examine what it is about our criminal justice system that allows the innocent to be judged guilty.
Sentencing Fragments by
Almost everyone agrees--Right on Crime, the ACLU, Koch Industries, George Soros's Open Society Foundation, the editorial boards of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal--that America's current systems for sentencing criminal offenders are a shambles, with crazy quilts of incompatible and conflicting laws, policies, and practices in every state and the federal system. Most everyone agrees that punishments are too severe, and too many people are in prison. However, the kinds of major changes required to undo mass incarceration and rebuild American sentencing are simply not happening. Despite well-intentioned rhetoric and media coverage, there has been very little meaningful change. In Sentencing Fragments, Michael Tonry explains what needs to be done to rebuild just systems of sentencing and punishment, and how to do it. This book tells the story of sentencing policy changes since 1975, examines research findings concerning their effects, and explains what does and does not work. Beyond calling attention to the devastating effects on the lives of the poor and disadvantaged and the latest empirical evidence, Tonry identifies the common moral theories behind criminal sentencing--as well as their larger assumptions about human nature--and discusses the ways in which different theories have bred very different sentencing policies. Sentencing Fragments concludes with a set of proposals for creating better policies and practices for the future, calling for American legislators and politicians to remake sentencing into the humane and just process that it always should have been. In lucid and engaging prose, Michael Tonry reveals the historical foundation for the current state of the American criminal justice system, while simultaneously offering a game plan for long overdue reform.
When Law Fails by
Since 1989, there have been over 200 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States. On the surface, the release of innocent people from prison could be seen as a victory for the criminal justice system: the wrong person went to jail, but the mistake was fixed and the accused set free. A closer look at miscarriages of justice, however, reveals that such errors are not aberrations but deeply revealing, common features of our legal system. The ten original essays in When Law Fails view wrongful convictions not as random mistakes but as organic outcomes of a misshaped larger system that is rife with faulty eyewitness identifications, false confessions, biased juries, and racial discrimination. Distinguished legal thinkers Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., and Austin Sarat have assembled a stellar group of contributors who try to make sense of justice gone wrong and to answer urgent questions. Are miscarriages of justice systemic or symptomatic, or are they mostly idiosyncratic? What are the broader implications of justice gone awry for the ways we think about law? Are there ways of reconceptualizing legal missteps that are particularly useful or illuminating? These instructive essays both address the questions and point the way toward further discussion. When Law Fails reveals the dramatic consequences as well as the daily realities of breakdowns in the law's ability to deliver justice swiftly and fairly, and calls on us to look beyond headline-grabbing exonerations to see how failure is embedded in the legal system itself. Once we are able to recognize miscarriages of justice we will be able to begin to fix our broken legal system. Contributors: Douglas A. Berman, Markus D. Dubber, Mary L. Dudziak, Patricia Ewick, Daniel Givelber, Linda Ross Meyer, Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Austin Sarat, Jonathan Simon, and Robert Weisberg.
Wrongful Conviction by
Imperfections in the criminal justice system have long intrigued the general public and worried scholars and legal practitioners. In "Wrongful Conviction," criminologists C. Ronald Huff and Martin Killias present an important collection of essays that analyzes cases of injustice across an array of legal systems, with contributors from North America, Europe and Israel. This collection includes a number of well-developed public-policy recommendations intended to reduce the instances of courts punishing innocents. It also offers suggestions for compensating more fairly those who are wrongfully convicted.
Wrongful Convictions and Miscarriages of Justice by
This innovative work builds on Huff and Killias' earlier publication (2008), but is broader and more thoroughly comparative in a number of important ways:　 (1) while focusing heavily on wrongful convictions, it places the subject of wrongful convictions in the broader contextual framework of miscarriages of justice and provides discussions of different types of miscarriages of justice that have not previously received much scholarly attention by criminologists; (2) it addresses, in much greater detail, the questions of how, and how often, wrongful convictions occur; (3) it provides more in-depth consideration of the role of forensic science in helping produce wrongful convictions and in helping free those who have been wrongfully convicted; (4) it offers new insights into the origins and current progress of the innocence movement, as well as the challenges that await the exonerated when they return to "free" society; (5) it assesses the impact of the use of alternatives to trials (especially plea bargains in the U.S. and summary proceedings and penal orders in Europe) in producing wrongful convictions; (6) it considers how the U.S. and Canada have responded to 9/11 and the increased threat of terrorism by enacting legislation and adopting policies that may exacerbate the problem of wrongful conviction; and (7) it provides in-depth considerations of two topics related to wrongful conviction:　 voluntary false confessions and convictions which, although technically not wrongful since they are based on law violations, represent another type of miscarriage of justice since they are due solely to unjust laws resulting from political repression.