Read and Download eBook Full
Author: Jim Dwyer
Publisher: Doubleday Books
Published: 2000
Total Pages: 314
ISBN-13: 038549341X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKTen true tales of people falsely accused detail the flaws in the criminal justice system that landed these people in prison
Author: Brandon L. Garrett
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 2011-08-04
Total Pages: 376
ISBN-13: 0674060989
DOWNLOAD EBOOKOn January 20, 1984, Earl Washington—defended for all of forty minutes by a lawyer who had never tried a death penalty case—was found guilty of rape and murder in the state of Virginia and sentenced to death. After nine years on death row, DNA testing cast doubt on his conviction and saved his life. However, he spent another eight years in prison before more sophisticated DNA technology proved his innocence and convicted the guilty man. DNA exonerations have shattered confidence in the criminal justice system by exposing how often we have convicted the innocent and let the guilty walk free. In this unsettling in-depth analysis, Brandon Garrett examines what went wrong in the cases of the first 250 wrongfully convicted people to be exonerated by DNA testing. Based on trial transcripts, Garrett’s investigation into the causes of wrongful convictions reveals larger patterns of incompetence, abuse, and error. Evidence corrupted by suggestive eyewitness procedures, coercive interrogations, unsound and unreliable forensics, shoddy investigative practices, cognitive bias, and poor lawyering illustrates the weaknesses built into our current criminal justice system. Garrett proposes practical reforms that rely more on documented, recorded, and audited evidence, and less on fallible human memory. Very few crimes committed in the United States involve biological evidence that can be tested using DNA. How many unjust convictions are there that we will never discover? Convicting the Innocent makes a powerful case for systemic reforms to improve the accuracy of all criminal cases.
Author: United States. Department of Justice
Publisher:
Published: 1985
Total Pages: 720
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: Kreig Vens
Publisher: iUniverse
Published: 2003-11
Total Pages: 296
ISBN-13: 0595301479
DOWNLOAD EBOOKTrystin Brock is a gifted swimmer who has everything going for him. The first sophomore ever appointed as Captain of Lincoln Memorial High School's swim team, with a girlfriend in college, he was the envy of his classmates. What could possibly go wrong? Twenty-eight years in a maximum-security prison, that's what went wrong! A prosecutor with an agenda, a narcissistic judge, and corrupt politicians circumvent "Innocent until proven guilty..." forcing Trystin into a legal-political quagmire, where he fights for his freedom, his sanity, and his life.
Author: Valena Beety
Publisher: Citadel
Published: 2022-05-31
Total Pages: 354
ISBN-13: 0806541512
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWorking 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 the broader story of a broken criminal system.
Author: Lynn Powell
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
Published: 2010-09-27
Total Pages: 438
ISBN-13: 1459603281
DOWNLOAD EBOOKTen years ago, amateur photographer and school bus driver Cynthia Stewart dropped off eleven rolls of film at a drugstore near her home in Ohio. The rolls contained photographs of her eight-year-old daughter Nora, including two of the child in the shower - photos that would cause the county prosecutor to arrest Cynthia, take her away in handcuffs, threaten to remove her daughter from her home, and charge her with crimes that carried the possibility of sixteen years in prison. The disturbing case would ultimately attract national attention - including stories in USA Today and on NPR - and supporters including the famed photographer Sally Mann, Katha Pollitt, and the ACLU. Framing Innocence brilliantly probes the many questions raised; when does a photograph of a naked child ''cross the line'' from innocent snapshot to child porn? What makes a photograph dangerous - the situation in which it is shot or the uses to which it might be put? When does the parent, and when does the state, know best? Written by poet Lynn Powell, a neighbor of Cynthia Stewart's, this riveting and beautifully told story plumbs the perfect storm of events and people that threatened an ordinary family in a small American town. Framing Innocence features a determined prosecutor; a fundamentalist Christian anti-porn crusader who is appointed as Cynthia's daughter's guardian; the local attorneys for whom the case would become a crucible; and the many neighbors - friends and strangers, Republican and Democrat - who come together to fight for sanity and for justice for Cynthia and her family.
Author: Daniel S. Medwed
Publisher: NYU Press
Published: 2013-11
Total Pages: 240
ISBN-13: 1479893080
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAmerican prosecutors are asked to play two roles within the criminal justice system: they are supposed to be ministers of justice whose only goals are to ensure fair trials—and they are also advocates of the government whose success rates are measured by how many convictions they get. Because of this second role, sometimes prosecutors suppress evidence in order to establish a defendant’s guilt and safeguard that conviction over time. In Prosecution Complex, Daniel S. Medwed shows how prosecutors are told to lock up criminals and protect the rights of defendants. This double role creates an institutional “prosecution complex” that animates how district attorneys’ offices treat potentially innocent defendants at all stages of the process—and that can cause prosecutors to aid in the conviction of the innocent. Ultimately, Prosecution Complex shows how, while most prosecutors aim to do justice, only some hit that target consistently.
Author: Michael D. Cicchini
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2012-07-12
Total Pages: 175
ISBN-13: 1442217197
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWhen an individual is accused of a crime he is provided, at least in theory, with numerous constitutional rights throughout the legal process. These constitutional rights, however, are soft and flexible, and are subject to a tremendous amount of manipulation by police, prosecutors, and judges. The result is that these government agents are easily able to bypass, and in fact destroy, our constitutional protections. This abuse of our fundamental rights is extremely dangerous. Far from being mere technicalities, constitutional rights benefit all citizens, not just the factually guilty, in ways that go unappreciated by most of us. In today’s hyper-vigilant, tough-on-crime climate, many good people from all walks of life find themselves charged with serious crimes for behaving in ways that most of us would be shocked to learn are criminal. For these reasons, it is in all of our interests to ensure strong constitutional safeguards for everyone. Tried and Convicted explains several individual constitutional rights that are intended to protect us from the vagaries of the criminal justice system, and gives detailed examples of how government agents routinely circumvent those rights. It also exposes the underlying problems that enable government agents to circumvent the constitution, and concludes by offering potential solutions to these problems. Using real life examples throughout, Cicchini provides a wake-up call for all of us.
Author: Saundra Davis Westervelt
Publisher:
Published: 2001
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9780813529516
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe evidence that people are wrongly convicted in the American criminal justice system has been growing and is arguably a systemic problem. Westervelt and Humphrey (both in sociology, U. of North Carolina) present 14 essays that explore the causes and social characteristics of wrongful convictions, while also offering case studies and discussions of solutions to the problem. Among the topics explored are the role of informants, the reasons behind false confessions, police misconduct, racial bias , the effectiveness of counsel, and the death penalty. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR
Author: Robert Justice
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Published: 2021-12-07
Total Pages: 305
ISBN-13: 1643858424
DOWNLOAD EBOOKLaced with atmospheric poetry and literature and set in the heart of Denver's black community, this gripping crime novel pits three characters in a race against time to thwart a gross miscarriage of justice—and a crooked detective who wreaks havoc…with deadly consequences. What happens to a deferred dream—especially when an innocent man's life hangs in the balance? Langston Brown is running out of time and options for clearing his name and escaping death row. Wrongfully convicted of the gruesome Mother's Day Massacre, he prepares to face his death. His final hope for salvation lies with his daughter, Liza, an artist who dreamed of a life of music and song but left the prestigious Juilliard School to pursue a law degree with the intention of clearing her father's name. Just as she nears success, it's announced that Langston will be put to death in thirty days. In a desperate bid to find freedom for her father, Liza enlists the help of Eli Stone, a jazz club owner she met at the classic Five Points venue, The Roz. Devastated by the tragic loss of his wife, Eli is trying to find solace by reviving the club…while also wrestling with the longing to join her in death. Everyone has a dream that might come true—but as the dark shadows of the past converge, could Langston, Eli, and Liza be facing a danger that could shatter those dreams forever?
