Download or read book Convictions Without Truth written by Robert Schehr and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-05-03 with total page 67 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Convictions Without Truth sets out to determine whether and to what extent science and law may coexist in an institutional relationship that truthfully generates individualization through application of forensic testimony for charges relating to violations of criminal law. In the first two chapters, readers are exposed to contemporary unscientific forensic practices as juxtaposed to the evidentiary standard announced by the United States Supreme Court in Daubert v. Merrill Dow Pharmaceuticals, as well as scientific requirements for validity and reliability of expert witness testimony. The remaining chapters provide an explanation for retention of existing, though faulty, forensic practices by way of analysis of path dependency, the fixation of belief, and neuro and cognitive psychology. Through immanent critique and unmasking, the book deconstructs prevailing forensic practices through application of existing published documentation. The final chapter addresses the fixation of belief from the perspective of neuropsychology and cognitive psychology. Readers will gain an understanding of the current concerns relating to application of contemporary forensic practices; current case law and federal rules guiding the introduction of expert witness testimony; and why it is that despite widely recognized concerns raised from within and outside of the criminal legal system, application of unscientific forensic practices continues. The book also shows how the criminal legal system is experiencing a paradigm shift due to dialectical juxtaposition of existing unscientific forensic practices with contemporary science. Readers are shown that because of its continued reliance upon unscientific forensic practices, the criminal legal system reveals its hegemonic commitment to social control through its willingness to accept "satisfying" as opposed to "truthful" results that generate wrongful convictions. Convictions Without Truth will be of particular interest to students, academics, and practitioners working within the criminal legal field. It will also appeal to those wanting to know more about forensics and criminal law.
Download or read book When Truth Is All You Have written by Jim McCloskey and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2021-06-29 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A riveting and infuriating examination of criminal prosecutions, revealing how easy it is to convict the wrong person and how nearly impossible it is to undo the error.” —Washington Post "No one has illuminated this problem more thoughtfully and persistently." —Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy Jim McCloskey was at a midlife crossroads when he met the man who would change 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, in 1980, was as a chaplain at Trenton State Prison. Among the inmates was Jorge de los Santos, a heroin addict who'd been convicted of murder years earlier. He swore to McCloskey that he was innocent—and, over time, McCloskey came to believe him. With no legal or investigative training to speak of, McCloskey threw himself into the case. Two years later, thanks to those efforts, Jorge de los Santos walked free, fully exonerated. McCloskey had found his calling. He established Centurion Ministries, the first group in America devoted to overturning wrongful convictions. Together with his staff and a team of forensic experts, lawyers, and volunteers—through tireless investigation and an unflagging dedication to justice—Centurion has freed 65 innocent prisoners who had been sentenced to life or death. When Truth Is All You Have is McCloskey's inspirational story, as well as those of the unjustly imprisoned for whom he has fought. Spanning the nation, it is a chronicle of faith and doubt; of triumphant success and shattering failure. It candidly exposes a life of searching and struggle, uplifted by McCloskey's certainty that he had found what he was put on earth to do. Filled with generosity, humor, and compassion, it is the soul-bearing account of a man who has redeemed innumerable lives—and incited a movement—with nothing more than his unshakeable belief in the truth.
Download or read book Convictions Without Truth written by ROBERT. SCHEHR and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-05-02 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Convictions Without Truth sets out to determine whether and to what extent science and law may coexist in an institutional relationship that truthfully generates individualization through application of forensic testimony for charges relating to violations of criminal law. In the first two chapters, readers are exposed to contemporary unscientific forensic practices as juxtaposed to the evidentiary standard announced by the United States Supreme Court in Daubert v. Merrill Dow Pharmaceuticals, as well as scientific requirements for validity and reliability of expert witness testimony. The remaining chapters provide an explanation for retention of existing, though faulty, forensic practices by way of analysis of path dependency, the fixation of belief, and neuro and cognitive psychology. Through immanent critique and unmasking, the book deconstructs prevailing forensic practices through application of existing published documentation. The final chapter addresses the fixation of belief from the perspective of neuropsychology and cognitive psychology. Readers will gain an understanding of the current concerns relating to application of contemporary forensic practices; current case law and federal rules guiding the introduction of expert witness testimony; and why it is that despite widely recognized concerns raised from within and outside of the criminal legal system, application of unscientific forensic practices continues., The book also shows how the criminal legal system is experiencing a paradigm shift due to dialectical juxtaposition of existing unscientific forensic practices with contemporary science. Readers are shown that because of its continued reliance upon unscientific forensic practices, the criminal legal system reveals its hegemonic commitment to social control through its willingness to accept satisfying as opposed to truthful results that generate wrongful convictions. Convictions Without Truth will be of particular interest to students, academics, and practitioners working within the criminal legal field. It will also appeal to those wanting to know more about forensics and criminal law.
Download or read book No Body Homicide Cases written by Thomas A.(Tad) DiBiase and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2014-11-17 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do you prove someone guilty of murder when the best piece of evidence—the victim’s body—is missing? Exclusively dedicated to the investigation and prosecution of no-body homicide cases, this book provides the author’s insight gained from investigating and trying a no-body case along with what he’s learned consulting on scores of others across the country. A practical guide for police and prosecutors, it takes an expansive look at both the history of no-body murder cases and the best methods to investigate, solve, and bring them to court. Taking readers step by step from the first days of a homicide investigation through the trial, the book explores the history of confessions, the use of jailhouse snitches to get information, and CSI-style forensics utilized in solving a case. It delves into the psychological profile of the type of defendant who murders someone and then hides the body and reviews methods criminals have used to dispose of bodies. It also discloses the investigative techniques police must use to catch these devious killers. Using real-life case studies, No-Body Homicide Cases: A Practical Guide to Investigating, Prosecuting, and Winning Cases When the Victim is Missing summarizes and analyzes the nearly 400 no-body murder trials in U.S. history, enabling readers to leverage the similarities in these cases with their own scenarios. The book is an essential resource for all investigators and a roadmap to a conviction for prosecutors.
Download or read book They Can t Take Your Name written by Robert Justice and published by Crooked Lane Books. This book was released on 2021-12-07 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Laced 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?
Download or read book Messy Truth written by Caleb Kaltenbach and published by WaterBrook. This book was released on 2021-08-10 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of Messy Grace, a former pastor raised by gay parents, comes a compassionate playbook to help Christians, church staff, and ministry leaders create a culture of belonging without sacrificing theological convictions. What should we do? This is a question many Christians are asking as they face shifting societal norms, conflicting opinions, and often inaccurate scriptural interpretations regarding those who identify as LGBTQ+. Caleb Kaltenbach believes there’s a more helpful question:What am I willing to do to keep and build influence with ______________? Caleb knows our love for others is best measured by the lengths we’ll go to help them. He also recognizes that people find and follow Jesus better in community than in isolation. As a child raised by three activist gay parents, Caleb experienced firsthand the outrage of some Christians. That’s why he is committed to creating a sense of belonging for all people. True community can happen only when Christians are intentional in infusing their attitudes, systems, and values with grace and truth. This hopeful, practical book offers tools for encouraging church involvement, strengthening personal relationships, increasing empathy, and engaging in pivotal conversations about grace and truth with our whole community. Fostering a culture of belonging is a messy process, but it holds a massive possibility for everyone involved: a growing relationship with Jesus.
Download or read book Conviction Without Compromise written by Norman Geisler and published by Harvest House Publishers. This book was released on 2008 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the earliest days of the church, Christians have struggled with questions related to unity and the handling of doctrinal differences. In this book you'll find clear guidance from Scripture about the doctrines on which it's essential for Christians to agree, and the doctrines on which believers can graciously agree to disagree. This landmark resource will equip you to take an uncompromising stand on the essentials of the faith while promoting love and unity among true believers. Book jacket.
Download or read book Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System written by M. Chris Fabricant and published by Akashic Books. This book was released on 2023-08-22 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now in an expanded paperback edition, 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. "Fierce and absorbing . . . Fabricant chronicles the battles he and his colleagues have fought to unravel a century of fraudulent experts and the bad court decisions that allowed them to thrive." —Washington Post From CSI to Forensic Files to the celebrated reputation of the FBI crime lab, forensic scientists have long been mythologized in American popular culture as infallible crime solvers. Juries put their faith in "expert witnesses" and innocent people have been executed as a result. Innocent people are still on death row today, condemned by junk science. In 2012, the Innocence Project began searching for prisoners convicted by junk science, and three men, each convicted of capital murder, became M. Chris Fabricant's clients. Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System chronicles the fights to overturn their wrongful convictions and to end the use of the "science" that destroyed their lives. Weaving together courtroom battles from Mississippi to Texas to New York City and beyond, Fabricant takes the reader on a journey into the heart of a broken, racist system of justice and the role forensic science plays in maintaining the status quo. At turns gripping, enraging, illuminating, and moving, Junk Science is a meticulously researched insider's perspective of the American criminal justice system. Previously untold stories of wrongful executions, corrupt prosecutors, and quackery masquerading as science animate Fabricant’s true crime narrative. The paperback edition features a brand-new index as well as an updated introduction and final chapter chronicling the Innocence Project’s continued fight against junk science in courtrooms across America.
Download or read book The Daniel Dilemma Bible Study Guide written by Chris Hodges and published by HarperChristian Resources. This book was released on 2017-10-17 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As Christians, we have real hope in Jesus that we have been called to share with others. But how we share that hope makes a difference. In a world that rejects everything we believe, we face a dilemma: how do we walk closely with God without caving in to pressure or alienating those we want to reach? In this six-session video Bible study, Chris Hodges looks at the lives of both Daniel and Jesus, showing how we can stand for our biblical beliefs without being hostile or insulting to others. We can stand up for God's truth in a morally corrupt culture–while still loving others–because the goal is never about winning the argument but about winning hearts. As Jesus demonstrated, when we connect with others before we correct them, we can handle the hard questions without compromising God's grace or truth. Chris offers fresh insights and practical ideas to encourage Christians struggling with their cultural reality to hold God's standards high and to keep his grace deep–just as Jesus did, and just as his followers today are called to do. The Daniel Dilemma Study Guide includes video discussion questions, Bible exploration, and personal study and reflection materials for in-between sessions. Sessions include: In the World but Not of It Identity Theft You Are What You Worship Who's the Boss? Divided, Distracted, and Disturbed What the World Needs Now Designed for use with the Daniel Dilemma Video Study (sold separately).
Download or read book The Conviction to Lead written by Albert Mohler and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2023-09-19 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Change the Way You Think about Leadership At the age of thirty-three, Dr. Albert Mohler became the youngest president in the 164-year history of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was the driving force behind the school's transformation into a thriving institution with an international reputation characterized by a passionate conviction for truth. In the process he became one of the most important and prominent Christian voices in contemporary culture. What will it take to transform your leadership? Effective leaders need more than administrative skills and vision. They need to be able to change the hearts and minds of those they lead. Leadership like this requires passionate beliefs that can stand up to pressure from without and within. In this updated edition Dr. Mohler has added a new introduction and conclusion based on an additional 10 years of leadership. He has also completely rewritten the chapter "The Digital Leader." The Conviction to Lead will crystallize your convictions while revolutionizing your thinking, your decision-making, your communication, and ultimately, those you lead. "Dr. Al Mohler has written a book that shakes us up and challenges our thinking. The Conviction to Lead is poised to become one of the all-time classic works on Christian leadership."--JIM DALY, President - Focus on the Family "Having rarely thought about leadership, I was hooked from the first chapter--to my complete surprise. This is a powerful book and gracefully written."--FRED BARNES, Executive Editor--The Weekly Standard
Download or read book Wrongful Convictions and the DNA Revolution written by Daniel S. Medwed and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-03-30 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For centuries, most people believed the criminal justice system worked - that only guilty defendants were convicted. DNA technology shattered that belief. DNA has now freed more than three hundred innocent prisoners in the United States. This book examines the lessons learned from twenty-five years of DNA exonerations and identifies lingering challenges. By studying the dataset of DNA exonerations, we know that precise factors lead to wrongful convictions. These include eyewitness misidentifications, false confessions, dishonest informants, poor defense lawyering, weak forensic evidence, and prosecutorial misconduct. In Part I, scholars discuss the efforts of the Innocence Movement over the past quarter century to expose the phenomenon of wrongful convictions and to implement lasting reforms. In Part II, another set of researchers looks ahead and evaluates what still needs to be done to realize the ideal of a more accurate system.
Download or read book Barred written by Daniel S. Medwed and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2022-09-20 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking exposé of how our legal system makes it nearly impossible to overturn wrongful convictions Thousands of innocent people are behind bars in the United States. But proving their innocence and winning their release is nearly impossible. In Barred, legal scholar Daniel S. Medwed argues that our justice system’s stringent procedural rules are largely to blame for the ongoing punishment of the innocent. Those rules guarantee criminal defendants just one opportunity to appeal their convictions directly to a higher court. Afterward, the wrongfully convicted can pursue only a few narrow remedies. Even when there is strong evidence of a miscarriage of justice, rigid guidelines, bias, and deference toward lower courts all too often prevent exoneration. Offering clear explanations of legal procedures alongside heart-wrenching stories of their devastating impact, Barred exposes how the system is stacked against the innocent and makes a powerful call for change.
Download or read book Wrongly Convicted written by Saundra Davis Westervelt and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 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
Download or read book The Innocent Man written by John Grisham and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2010-03-16 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction: a true crime story that will terrify anyone who believes in the presumption of innocence. • LOOK FOR THE NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY SERIES “Both an American tragedy and [Grisham’s] strongest legal thriller yet, all the more gripping because it happens to be true.”—Entertainment Weekly In the town of Ada, Oklahoma, Ron Williamson was going to be the next Mickey Mantle. But on his way to the Big Leagues, Ron stumbled, his dreams broken by drinking, drugs, and women. Then, on a winter night in 1982, not far from Ron’s home, a young cocktail waitress named Debra Sue Carter was savagely murdered. The investigation led nowhere. Until, on the flimsiest evidence, it led to Ron Williamson. The washed-up small-town hero was charged, tried, and sentenced to death—in a trial littered with lying witnesses and tainted evidence that would shatter a man’s already broken life, and let a true killer go free. Impeccably researched, grippingly told, filled with eleventh-hour drama, The Innocent Man reads like a page-turning legal thriller. It is a book no American can afford to miss. Don’t miss John Grisham’s new book, THE EXCHANGE: AFTER THE FIRM!
Download or read book Reclaiming Lives written by Joan Treppa and published by . This book was released on 2021-06-15 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ONE AVERAGE BUT DETERMINED WOMAN SETS OUT TO SHAKE UP THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN THE NAME OF SIX WRONGFULLY CONVICTED MEN. The 1992 death of mill worker, Tom Monfils, and the resulting trial of six men accused of his murder shocked a community. In 2009, Joan read a factual book about the case which sent her on a mission to seek justice for these men. Realizing a deep emotional connection to them, she ignites the interest of a retired crime scene expert/private investigator who initiates a reinvestigation. Reclaiming Lives provides an uncomplicated examination of our nation's criminal justice system. Its overall message validates truths in the face of adversity, delivers hope where there was none, and demonstrates the capacity to overcome insurmountable obstacles. As of April 30, 2021, the National Registry of Exonerations reports that some 2,776 actually innocent, but wrongly convicted, individuals in the U.S. have been exonerated since 1989. As "Reclaiming Lives" painfully reveals, however, this number represents only a fraction of the total number of actually innocent people who have been wrongly convicted since 1989, but not yet exonerated. Joan Treppa's dedicated, years-long effort to obtain justice for the "Monfils Six" defendants is testament to the inherent difficulty in overturning wrongful convictions, even when the evidence of actual innocence compellingly refutes the prosecution's case. "Reclaiming Lives" teaches the reader why it is not only critical to prevent wrongly convictions from occurring in the first instance but also why the criminal justice system must be far more willing than it has often been to correct these injustices after they are shown to have occurred. - Steve Kaplan, former post-conviction counsel for Keith Kutska.
Download or read book Smoke But No Fire written by Jessica S. Henry and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2021-10-05 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2020 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards Winner, Silver (Political and Social Sciences) Winner of the Montaigne Medal, awarded to "the most thought-provoking books" The first book to explore a shocking yet all-too-common type of wrongful conviction—one that locks away innocent people for crimes that never actually happened. Rodricus Crawford was convicted and sentenced to die for the murder by suffocation of his beautiful baby boy. After years on death row, evidence confirmed what Crawford had claimed all along: he was innocent, and his son had died from an undiagnosed illness. Crawford is not alone. A full one-third of all known exonerations stem from no-crime wrongful convictions. The first book to explore this common but previously undocumented type of wrongful conviction, Smoke but No Fire tells the heartbreaking stories of innocent people convicted of crimes that simply never happened. A suicide is mislabeled a homicide. An accidental fire is mislabeled an arson. Corrupt police plant drugs on an innocent suspect. A false allegation of assault is invented to resolve a custody dispute. With this book, former New York City public defender Jessica S. Henry sheds essential light on a deeply flawed criminal justice system that allows—even encourages—these convictions to regularly occur. Smoke but No Fire promises to be eye-opening reading for legal professionals, students, activists, and the general public alike as it grapples with the chilling reality that far too many innocent people spend real years behind bars for fictional crimes.
Download or read book Truth and Conviction written by L. Jane McMillan and published by UBC Press. This book was released on 2018-11-01 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The name “Donald Marshall Jr.” is synonymous with “wrongful conviction” and the fight for Indigenous rights in Canada. In Truth and Conviction, Jane McMillan – Marshall’s former partner, an acclaimed anthropologist, and an original defendant in the Supreme Court’s Marshall decision – tells the story of how Marshall’s life-long battle against injustice permeated Canadian legal consciousness and revitalized Indigenous law. Marshall died in 2009, but his legacy lives on. Mi’kmaq continue to assert their rights and build justice programs grounded in customary laws and practices, key steps in the path to self-determination and reconciliation.
