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Summary: A Crucial Message
Review: There is not a more crucial time to read this book. The authors detail their work with DNA evidence in wrongful conviction cases through the Innocence Project at New York's Cardozo Law School. Typically, these are criminal cases which were tried prior to the type of DNA technology we currently possess. What this book brings to light though, is that for every conviction where actual innocence is later proven via DNA evidence, there are likely countless more situations of wrongful conviction where such evidence does not exist. Wrongful conviction is a serious problem in our criminal justice system today, as the State of Illinois demonstrates. Since reinstituting the death penalty, Illinois has executed twelve people and has released seventeen from death row due to later findings of actual innocence. Scheck's work is impressive and necessary; this book offers an excellent portrayal of it.
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Summary: The truth as you see it
Review: This collection of case histories of individuals freed by DNA evidence,after being wrongly convicted, illustrates the weaknesses in our judicial system. Pray you are never caught up in a situation where a witness identifies you. A truly frightening evaluation of how we convict people. Must reading for everyone.
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Summary: Do we jail and kill innocents in America?
Review: This is a terrifying but important book that should be read by everyone with an interest in the American judicial system and a concern for justice. Regardless of your position on the death penalty or other artifacts of the tough on crime spree this country has seen over the last several decades, it's hard to see how you can object to attempts to ensure people are put behind bars only for crimes they are in fact guilty of. Scheck and Neufeld have convincingly shown there are serious flaws in our judicial system which cause many people to be convicted of crimes they did not commit. They show this primarily by use of DNA testing and explain with compelling case histories how these convictions are obtained: faulty eyewitness testimony, lying snitches, coerced confessions, racism, falsified lab results, incompetent defense attorneys, and dishonest prosecutors. It doesn't help that we have a Supreme Court that seems more interested in expediting the process than in ensuring justice. The current scandal with the Ramparts division of the LAPD is a vivid reminder of how bad matters are, even though it "only" involves lying police officers and prosecutors willing to accept "testilying". The DNA evidence can't really be argued against. My guess is that defenders of the current system will try to ignore the work done by these two and others. We know that when finally forced to do pay attention the conviction of innocents, the morally and intellectually bankrupt argument is made that the fact of overturning the convictions is proof the system works. I predict that when DNA evidence finally does start freeing even more wrongly convicted, the argument will be that things are now cleaned up and we can safely conclude the problem to be solved. Of course, it won't have been. Only those few cases where DNA evidence is available will be cleared. "Actual Innocence" closes with a series of suggestions for improving the system to decrease the number of innocent people convicted. They are sensible and it's hard to see how they could be argued against, except perhaps by saying it's too expensive to keep honest people out of prison. Or even alive, since we do have a death penalty in this country. Again, the likely prospect is that an attempt will be made to ignore the proposals. The only possible improvement I can see to this book would have been a chapter dedicated to making a case for how many innocents are routinely being convicted. Careful and conservative estimates for how often this happens based on the data available might be a key piece in discussing the subject with others. The message is there if you're awake while you read the book, but can get lost in the specific miscarriages of justice described.
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Summary: excellent book
Review: This is an excellent book. Consider this. what happens if one day while you were watching Tv and there's snipers and police and the FBI are watching you and waiting for you to come out. But you don't even know that they want you. Even worse, you're taken into coustody and convicted of a crime you didn't even do. And even more hellish is finding your self 5 days from execution and being exoterated. Is this actaully true? Yes it is. It could happen to anybody. All the prosecution wants to do is to win their case. They don't care what way or method they use to get the guily verdict. They want someone found guily of the crime. It dosen't matter if the person is the actual one or not. This is a must read book.
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Summary: Compelling -- another great book on injustice
Review: This startling account of the work of the Innocence Project should be required reading for every person who thinks appeals to criminal convictions are a waste of time, that defense lawyers have the advantage over prosecutors, and that juries should have the final word. This book shows how such conventional wisdom is dead wrong. These are true stories of people imprisoned -- and sometimes sentenced to die -- for crimes they absolutely did not convict. I first became interested in this subject through reading MEAN JUSTICE, Edward Humes' excellent and highly-recommended book about wrongful convictions, which focused on misconduct by prosecutors and police -- and the system's failure to hold them accountable. Now Scheck and Neufeld show how DNA can be used to undo these injustices. But guess what? The same prosecutors are fighting them tooth and nail, actually trying to stop DNA testing in cases of possible innocence. Shame on them!
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Summary: So true
Review: this was a good book because it's so true. we always hear about the victims' side but it is seldom considered to hear the other side. i never understood how much DNA has revolutionized forensics and something that really shocked me was how unreliable eyewitness are.
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Summary: COURAGEOUS!
Review: What a shocking book about American justice! It seems that many of the things that minorities have been complaining about over the years are being undisputedly validated. If the current L.A. Police Department's probe into the Rampart Station rogue police officers making their own version of justice, or the New York Police Department's multiple shootings and/or maltreatment of unarmed minorities are not bad enough, then comes along this incredible book. Written by Jim Dwyer in a journalistic style, the story is told in unremitting forthrightness. Even though the obvious intent is not to scream and yell, their passion for the truth shines through on every page, and the facts speak for themselves. The statistics are horrible. It is typical American paradox, in a legal profession that purports to champion the causes of truth and justice, so many that are in positions of power will blatantly ignore, manipulate or fabricate these two ideals. That includes pandering politicians as well. Just a simple two paragraph quote from the book will give you insight of the serious, damaging and outrageous facts that the authors elucidate: "In the United States, there are grave consewquences when an airplane falls from the sky; and automobile has a defective part; a patient is the victim of malpractice, a bad drug, or an erroneous lab report. Serious inquiries are made: What went wrong? Was it a systemic breakdown? An individual's mistake? Was there official misconduct? Can anything be done to correct the problem and prevent it from happening again?" "In 1999, the Innocence Project (the authors) reconstructed sixty-two cases in the United States of the sixty-seven exonerations in North America to determine what factors had been prevalent in the wrongful convictions. Mistaken eyewitnesses were a factor in 84 percent of the convictions; snitches or informants in 21 percent; false confessions in 24 percent. Defense lawyers fell down on the job in 27 percent; prosecutorial misconduct played a part in 42 percent, and police misconduct in 50 percent. A third involved tainted or fraudulent science...." The authors state that in the last twenty-five years, there have been 553 people executed in this country. In that same period, 80 condemned people have been released from death row. (That calculates for me to be a 12.6% error rate of the ones that the evidence could still be found to prove their innocence.) That arguement alone is substantial reason to stay any further executions. This book is not just about the wrongful incarceration of innocent (mostly black) men on death row. It is a damming statement of the human condition of enough of our judges, prosecutors, police officers, defense lawyers, State & Federal Governmental officials, forensic experts, falacious (so-called) eyewitnesses, jailhouse snitches, and victims to cause serious concern. And the arrogance of the Legal system, to deny complicity, admit error, or leave the door open for innocent men to avail themselves of irrefutable evidence. The depth of the abuses of the system exposed by this book are simply not acceptable in our American System of Law. How can we expect the lesser blessed in our American environment to improve themselves and believe in the system when those in power refuse to acknowledge the truth, and continue to abuse the system for there own aggrandizement? Every American man and woman should read this book. It will explode many American myths we were taught. It may arouse you enough to become advocates of justice for all of us! For truth to prevail, we must look beyond campaign rhetoric and not allow politicians to hide behind the catch all rallying cry "Tough on Crime." We must vote yes for the necessary funding to follow the specific solutions suggested by the authors to insure that these abuses do not continue to happen at such a high rate. Don't forget: If it can happen to them; we could be next! Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld, Jim Dwyer and the Innocence Project deserve our highest accolades, our gratitude, and our support for having the courage to bring these facts to the direct attention of the American public.
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