Download or read book Failure of Justice written by John Ferak and published by WildBlue Press. This book was released on 2016-05-19 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A chilling piece of journalism” from the bestselling author of Wrecking Crew: Demolishing the Case Against Steven Avery (Ron Franscell , author of Alice & Gerald). In this thrilling true crime book, bestselling and award-winning author John Ferak explores the murder, investigation, trial, conviction and eventual exoneration—the largest such ever in the United States—of the Beatrice 6. On February 5, 1985, one of the coldest nights on record, Beatrice, Nebraska widow Helen Wilson was murdered inside her second-floor apartment. The news of six arrests was absolutely stunning to the locals in this easy-going, blue-collar community of 12,000 residents. But why were six loosely connected misfits who lived as far away as Alabama, Colorado and North Carolina being linked to the rape and murder of a beloved small-town widow? After all six of the condemned were convicted of murder and sent away to prison for the ghastly crime, the town moved on, convinced that justice was served. For more than twenty-five years, the Beatrice 6 rotted in prison, until the unthinkable occurred in 2008 . . . In Failure of Justice, John Ferak delivers a “riveting account . . . [of] an overzealous police investigation that generated false confessions and false evidence. The unbelievable story of the Beatrice 6 provides a wake-up call at a time when serious wrongful convictions continue to come to light with disturbing frequency” (Brandon L. Garrett, Justice Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law). “One of the most bizarre stories I’ve ever heard of.”—Burl Barer, Edgar Award-winning true-crime author, host of Outlaw radio’s True Crime Uncensored

Download or read book The Collapse of American Criminal Justice written by William J. Stuntz and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2011-09-30 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rule of law has vanished in America’s criminal justice system. Prosecutors decide whom to punish; most accused never face a jury; policing is inconsistent; plea bargaining is rampant; and draconian sentencing fills prisons with mostly minority defendants. A leading criminal law scholar looks to history for the roots of these problems—and solutions.

Download or read book When Law Fails written by Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Between Justice and Beauty written by Howard Gillette, Jr. and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2011-06-03 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the only American city under direct congressional control, Washington has served historically as a testing ground for federal policy initiatives and social experiments—with decidedly mixed results. Well-intentioned efforts to introduce measures of social justice for the district's largely black population have failed. Yet federal plans and federal money have successfully created a large federal presence—a triumph, argues Howard Gillette, of beauty over justice. In a new afterword, Gillette addresses the recent revitalization and the aftereffects of an urban sports arena.

Download or read book Wrongly Convicted written by Saundra Davis Westervelt and published by Critical Issues in Crime and S. This book was released on 2001 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written from a cross-disciplinary perspective, the essays in this collection are divided into four sections: the causes of wrongful convictions, the social characteristics of the wrongfully convicted, case studies and personal histories, and suggestions for change in the criminal justice system.

Download or read book Trial and Error in Criminal Justice Reform written by Greg Berman and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-03-21 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this revised edition of their concise, readable, yet wide-ranging book, Greg Berman and Aubrey Fox tackle a question students and scholars of law, criminology, and political science constantly face: what mistakes have led to the problems that pervade the criminal justice system in the United States? The reluctance of criminal justice policymakers to talk openly about failure, the authors argue, has stunted the public conversation about crime in this country and stifled new ideas. It has also contributed to our inability to address such problems as chronic offending in low-income neighborhoods, an overreliance on incarceration, the misuse of pretrial detention, and the high rates of recidivism among parolees. Berman and Fox offer students and policymakers an escape from this fate by writing about failure in the criminal justice system. Their goal is to encourage a more forthright dialogue about criminal justice, one that acknowledges that many new initiatives fail and that no one knows for certain how to reduce crime. For the authors, this is not a source of pessimism, but a call to action. This revised edition is updated with a new foreword by Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., and afterword by Greg Berman.

Download or read book United States Attorneys Manual written by United States. Department of Justice and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book American Justice in the Age of Innocence written by Hillary K. Valderrama and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2011-07-27 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The exoneration of more than two hundred and fifty people who have been wrongfully convicted makes it clear that Americas criminal justice system isnt foolproof. Its important to understand the causes of wrongful conviction in order to find solutions to this growing problem. Edited by one of the nations leading legal scholars and two of her top students, this collection of essays examines critical issues, including what American justice in the age of innocence looks like; how to implement procedural mechanisms to ensure the integrity of the judicial system while safeguarding the public; whether or not the legal system is doing a good enough job uncovering wrongful convictions. This anthology provides insightful lessons based on cutting-edge research and legal analysis. Wrongful convictions are not a foregone conclusion, but the justice system must break free from a pattern of punishing innocent people and go after the true culprits. Written for judges, lawyers and scholars alike, American Justice in the Age of Innocence educates the public and helps current prisoners who are innocent contest their wrongful convictions.

Download or read book Scapegoat Justice Lloyd Miller and the Failure of the American Legal System written by Willard J. Lassers and published by Bloomington : Indiana University Press. This book was released on 1973 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Supreme Court on Trial written by George C. Thomas and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2010-02-09 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The chief mandate of the criminal justice system is not to prosecute the guilty but to safeguard the innocent from wrongful convictions; with this startling assertion, legal scholar George Thomas launches his critique of the U.S. system and its emphasis on procedure at the expense of true justice. Thomas traces the history of jury trials, an important component of the U.S. justice system, since the American Founding. In the mid-twentieth century, when it became evident that racism and other forms of discrimination were corrupting the system, the Warren Court established procedure as the most important element of criminal justice. As a result, police, prosecutors, and judges have become more concerned about following rules than about ensuring that the defendant is indeed guilty as charged. Recent cases of prisoners convicted of crimes they didn't commit demonstrate that such procedural justice cannot substitute for substantive justice. American justices, Thomas concludes, should take a lesson from the French, who have instituted, among other measures, the creation of an independent court to review claims of innocence based on new evidence. Similar reforms in the United States would better enable the criminal justice system to fulfill its moral and legal obligation to prevent wrongful convictions. "Thomas draws on his extensive knowledge of the field to elaborate his elegant and important thesis---that the American system of justice has lost sight of what ought to be its central purpose---protection of the innocent." —Susan Bandes, Distinguished Research Professor of Law, DePaul University College of Law "Thomas explores how America's adversary system evolved into one obsessed with procedure for its own sake or in the cause of restraining government power, giving short shrift to getting only the right guy. His stunning, thought-provoking, and unexpected recommendations should be of interest to every citizen who cares about justice." —Andrew E. Taslitz, Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law "An unflinching, insightful, and powerful critique of American criminal justice---and its deficiencies. George Thomas demonstrates once again why he is one of the nation's leading criminal procedure scholars. His knowledge of criminal law history and comparative criminal law is most impressive." —Yale Kamisar, Distinguished Professor of Law, University of San Diego and Clarence Darrow Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Law, University of Michigan

Download or read book Miscarriages of Justice written by Brent E. Turvey and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2014-05-19 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Miscarriages of justice are a regular occurrence in the criminal justice system, which is characterized by government agencies that are understaffed, underfunded, and undertrained across the board. We know this because, every week, DNA testing and innocence projects across the United States help to identify and eventually overturn wrongful convictions. As a result, the exonerated go free and the stage is set for addressing criminal and civil liability. Criminal justice students and professionals therefore have a need to be made aware of the miscarriage problem as a threshold issue. They need to know what a miscarriage of justice looks like, how to recognize it's many forms, and what their duty of care might be in terms of prevention. They also need to appreciate that identifying miscarriages, and ensuring legal remedy, is an important function of the system that must be honored by all criminal justice professionals. The purpose of this textbook is to move beyond the law review, casebook, and true crime publications that comprise the majority of miscarriage literature. While informative, they are not designed for teaching students in a classroom setting. This text is written for use at the undergraduate level in journalism, sociology, criminology and criminal justice programs - to introduce college students to the miscarriage phenomenon in a structured fashion. The language is more broadly accessible than can be found in legal texts, and the coverage is multidisciplinary. Miscarriages of Justice: Actual Innocence, Forensic Evidence, and the Law focuses on the variety of miscarriages issues in the United States legal system. Written by leaders in the field, it is particularly valuable to forensic scientists and attorneys evaluating evidence or preparing for trial or appeal in cases where faulty evidence features prominently. It is also of value to those interested in developing arguments for miscarriage in post-conviction review of criminal cases. Chapters focus specifically on issues of law enforcement bias and corruption; false confessions; ineffective counsel and prosecutorial misconduct; forensic fraud; and more. The book closes by examining innocence projects and commissions, and civil remedies for the wrongfully convicted. This text ultimately presents the issue of miscarriages as a systemic and multi-disciplinary criminal justice issue. It provides perspectives from within the professional CJ community, and it serves as warning to future professionals about the dangers and consequences of apathy, incompetence, and neglect. Consequently, it can be used by any CJ educator to introduce any group of CJ students to the problem. Written by practicing criminal justice professionals in plain language for undergraduate students Covers multiple perspectives across the criminal justice system Informed by experience working for Innocence Projects across the United States to achieve successful exonerations Topical case examples to facilitate teaching and learning Companion website featuring Discussion topics, Exam questions and PowerPoint slides: http://textbooks.elsevier.com/web/Manuals.aspx?isbn=9780124115583

Download or read book Convicting the innocent written by Edwin Montefiore Borchard and published by Рипол Классик. This book was released on 1961 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Wrongful Conviction and Criminal Justice Reform written by Marvin Zalman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-30 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wrongful Conviction and Criminal Justice Reform is an important addition to the literature and teaching on innocence reform. This book delves into wrongful convictions studies but expands upon them by offering potential reforms that would alleviate the problem of wrongful convictions in the criminal justice system. Written to be accessible to students, Wrongful Conviction and Criminal Justice Reform is a main text for wrongful convictions courses or a secondary text for more general courses in criminal justice, political science, and law school innocence clinics.

Download or read book When Justice Fails written by Robert J. Norris and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wrongful convictions have become a prominent concern in state and federal systems of justice. As thousands of innocent prisoners have been freed in the United States in the past few decades, social science researchers and legal actors have produced a wealth of new insights about how and why mistakes occur and what can be done to help prevent further injustices. When Justice Fails surveys the field of innocence scholarship to offer an overview of the key research, legal, and policy issues associated with wrongful convictions. Topics include the leading sources of error, the detection and correction of miscarriages of justice, the aftermath of wrongful convictions, and more. The volume includes references to historic and contemporary instances of miscarriages of justice and presents information gleaned from media sources about the cases and related policy issues. The book is ideally suited for use in undergraduate classes which focus on wrongful convictions and the administration of justice. PowerPoint slides are available to professors upon adoption of this book. You can download a sample of the full 139-slide presentation here. If you have adopted the book for a course, contact [email protected] to request the PowerPoint slides. "The learning objectives presented in the beginning of each chapter are accomplished through a variety of ways. Importantly, regardless of a student's background, discussions are presented from so many different angles that the material is tailored to all readers. Each chapter starts with a case study, introduces new concepts, discusses the related law, and concludes with presenting policy reforms. The authors not only present the issues related to wrongful convictions but the potential solutions as well." -- Matthew R. Hassett, UNC-Pembroke "I will continue to frequently open this book and read it to make myself a better police officer and to pass on knowledge to do my part in preventing wrongful convictions." -- Earthen McEachen, Senior Capstone student at Curry College in Boston

Download or read book Justice Denied written by James Morton and published by Robinson. This book was released on 2015-07-09 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An incisive examination by the bestselling author of The Mammoth Book of Gangs of some of the many miscarriages of justice of this and the previous century, which have seen innocent men and women found guilty, and sometimes executed. This shocking 'manual of injustice' exposes wrongful convictions and acquittals as a result of the chicanery of some forensic scientists, over-zealous or negligent police officers under pressure to get results, incompetent lawyers, lying witnesses, bribed juries, judicial blunders and feeble politicians. Sometimes, however, it is truculent and uncooperative defendants who prove their own worst enemies. It shows the mistakes that can be made in the face of a baying public and a rabid press, mistakes which have seen innocent men and women found guilty, and sometimes executed, while others have served lengthy sentences. It reveals critical flaws in criminal justice systems throughout the world (it is estimated, for example, that two per cent of felony cases in America result in wrongful convictions). Morton explores folk devils and moral panics, both historical such as the 'witches' of Salem and and much more recent cases like that of the West Memphis Three. It considers cases of race hatred, the impact of DNA, fit-ups, fake 'experts', doubtful science and the long road to the court of appeal. He also looks at what happens to the victims of miscarriages of justice, whether they go on to prosper or, as is sadly so often the case, never really recover. How did the boxer Rubin 'The Hurricane' Carter come to be wrongly convicted of a triple homicide? The alibi of Joe Hill, the Industrial Workers of the World activist wrongly executed for the murder of a Utah grocer and his son, came too late to save him from execution. On the other hand, Lindy Chamberlain (famously portrayed by Meryl Streep in A Cry in the Dark), has finally, over thirty years after the fact, had her claim that her baby Azaria was taken by a dingo at Ayers Rock in the Australian Outback upheld by a coroner. Among many other cases, Morton also considers the 1910 case of two men convicted of the murder of a man still alive in 1926, and case of the West Memphis Three, who were convicted as teenagers in 1994 of the murders of three boys in Arkansas and released in 2011 in a plea bargain after eighteen years, though the prosecution still refuses to accept their innocence.

Download or read book Law Without Justice written by Colin S Diver Distinguished Professor of Law Paul H Robinson and published by Oxford University Press on Demand. This book was released on 2006 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a ... for thoughtful legislators and all the rest of us who seek justice for persons charged with crimes-proportional punishment of the guilty, and exculpation of the morally blameless. The authors demonstrate, with remarkable lucidity, how and why the criminal law sometimes deliberately sacrifices justice for other goals, and they provide thoughtful, controversial, and often persuasive suggestions on how we can redesign our legal system to give people their just deserts. [In the book, the authors offer an] account of how the American criminal justice system fails to give offenders their just deserts in a number of different contexts. From the refusal to allow partial exoneration for defenses like mistake of law and insanity to the practicallimitations on detecting and prosecuting offenders, [they also] demonstrate through ... discussions of actual cases the many areas where criminal sentencing fails to do justice. -Dust jacket.

Download or read book Personal Justice Denied Report written by United States. Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part II (p.315-359) concerns the removal of Aleuts to camps in southeastern Alaska and their subsequent resettlement at war's end.