“A landmark in the fight against the death penalty. Extensively researched and brilliantly written” (Martin Garbus, criminal defense attorney).
This investigation into wrongful convictions illustrates the tragic consequences that ensue when the American legal system goes awry. Whether it’s by eyewitness error, jailhouse snitch testimony, corrupt law enforcement, racism, junk science, tainted jury deliberation, prosecutorial misconduct, or incompetent counsel, gross malfeasance is all too possible, and not uncommon. Yet, while many innocent people are put on death row, there’s still an opportunity for justice.
Award-winning journalist Stanley Cohen chronicles more than forty cases of men across the country who were arrested, convicted, sentenced, degraded by prison life, dragged through the appeals system, and finally set free because of evidence proving their innocence. These stories end with vindication, but in a country that has performed nearly a thousand executions since 1976, how many more inmates are suffering injustice at the hands of the justice system?
The solution to America’s tarnished legal system may be elusive, but the questions raised in this “valuable accounting of a hidden societal plague” cannot be ignored (Kirkus Reviews).
