The Death Penalty on Trial: Crisis in American Justice

Rating:
Summary: A compelling case for abolishing the death penalty
Review: A onetime capital punishment supporter, award winning journalist Bill Kurtis takes readers through the in's and out's of two cases where the wrong man was convicted and sentenced to death. The cases are discussed are filled with overzealous prosecutors, inexperienced defense attorneys, suppressed evidence and more. Unfortunately these issues are common to death penalty cases. These cases are not anomalies. Kurtis recently appeared on Larry King Live where a prosecutor actually had the gall to suggest that the two cases Kurtis discusses are actually proof that the system works since the convictions were eventually overturned! Never mind that both men lost over a decade of their lives and one was literally days away from execution. Kurtis skillfully shows us that a system rife with inaccuracies is simply not good enough when someone's life is on the line.

Rating:
Summary: Too Many Errors
Review: Many societies consider the death penalty too barbaric of a penalty to impose on one of its own citizens. However, many of the States in the USA consider the death penalty not too barbaric to employ. Even if one did believe in the death penalty, at the very least, one would want the process to be error free.

This book clearly makes the case that legal systems leading to the death penalty in American Justice are ripe with errors. These errors lead to the convictions of absolutely innocent persons. Most persons who learn of the high error rate in death penalty cases can not advocate for this form of punishment any longer.

Rating:
Summary: Not a journalist
Review: Posing as a journalist Bill Kurtis has now shown that he has a very definite agenda, that being to abolish capital punishment, and not be persuading anyone that it is wrong for the state to kill, but repeating the half-truths and outright distortion of disgraced and indicted former Gov. George Ryan, who freed more than 150 stone cold killers off his state's death row.
In his book tour, particularly on an appearance by Larry King, Kurtis shows that he is a tourist in the land of criminal justice. Those of us who live there know the facts are very different and while the system certainly makes mistakes, they are about as common as human rabies.