Recommended Books

Police Interrogation and American Justice
by Richard Leo

Incriminating statements are necessary to solve crimes, but suspects almost never have reason to provide them. Therefore, crime units have developed sophisticated interrogation methods that rely on persuasion, manipulation, and deception to move a subject from denial to admission, serving to shore up the case against him. Ostensibly aimed at uncovering truth, the structure of interrogation requires that officers act as an arm of the prosecution. Skillful and fair interrogation allows authorities to capture criminals and deter future crime. But Leo draws on extensive research to argue that confessions are inherently suspect and that coercive interrogation has led to false confession and wrongful conviction. He looks at police evidence in the court, the nature and disappearance of the brutal "third degree," the reforms of the mid-twentieth century, and how police can persuade suspects to waive their Miranda rights.

Snitch: Informants, Cooperators and the Corruption of Justice
by Ethan Brown

A chilling investigative look behind the scenes at a criminal justice system corrupted by its use of cooperators, and into the complex meaning of the "Stop Snitching" movement.
In Snitch, investigative reporter Ethan Brown shows through a compelling series of case profiles how the sentencing guidelines for drug-related offenses, along with the 5K1.1 section, have unintentionally created a "cottage industry of cooperators," and led to fabricated evidence. The result is wrongful convictions and appallingly gruesome crimes committed by the snitches who are turned loose for their "cooperation."

Click HERE for Steve Weinberg's review of this book.

15,543 and Counting
By D. L. Carcara

On September 2, 1983, Jimmy Lee Gray died smashing his head into a metal pole located behind his head as a result of being strapped to a chair and forced to inhale a deadly mixture of sulfuric acid and hydrogen cyanide. On May 4, 1990, Jesse Tafero, at the time living and breathing, died after being set on fire while completely incapacitated being bound to a chair. These instances sound much like the works of a sadistic serial killer torturing his victims, but they are in reality the works of State Departments of Corrections here in America. These documented cases as well as many more wrongs involving the administration of capital punishment in the United States are found in 15,543 and Counting. Each and every step, from the very beginning of the guilt trial to the very end of the cooling of the corpse, is addressed and accounted for in 15,543 and Counting. Among the countless informative sources are testimonies of corrections officers assigned to the care and custody of death row inmates, as well as actual quotes from death row inmates themselves.

The Chaparral Murders: Dollar Store Justice
by Margaret Stoddart

The Chaparral Murders re-examines the 1982 deaths of Glenn Roberts and his son, Timmy, in Parsons, WV, and the subsequent conviction of Rusty Phillips in Timmy Roberts' death.

Stoddart is the stepdaughter of Edith Roberts, the mother of Timmy and the widow of Glenn. Given that relationship, the author reaches conclusions that might not be expected, questioning whether Rusty Phillips had any role in Timmy Roberts' death, and whether Timmy's death was a homicide in the first place.

Click HERE to read Norm Goldman's review in American Chronicle.

Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case
by Stuart Taylor and K.C. Johnson

“Brutally honest, unflinching, exhaustively researched, and compulsively readable, Until Proven Innocent excoriates those who led the stampede—the prosecutor, the cops, the media—but it also exposes the cowardice of Duke’s administration and faculty. Until Proven Innocent smothers any lingering doubts that in this country the presumption of innocence is dead, dead, dead.”
—John Grisham

“In what surely is this year’s most revealing, scalding and disturbing book on America’s civic culture, the authors demonstrate that the Duke case was symptomatic of the dangerous decay of important institutions—legal, academic, and journalistic. . . . With this meticulous report, the guilty have at last been indicted and convicted.”
—George F. Will

Arbitrary Justice
by Prof. Angela Davis

"This book is not simply timely. It is timeless. It chronicles the expansion of prosecutorial powers and, better yet, offers a compelling set of reforms that all can agree will help to curb unnecessary abuses of power. Public officials, law enforcement, and everyday citizens will all find this book informative and accessible. It is a must read, and a phenomenal read."
--Charles J. Ogletree Jr., Jesse Climenko Professor, Harvard Law School

"Finally, a book by a scholar that not only describes what's really going on in the trenches--a dangerous shift in power from judges to prosecutors in sentencing and charging decisions--but provides a sensible agenda of reforms that will protect victims and defendants alike. This is a very important work."
--Barry Scheck, Professor, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and Co-Director, Innocence Project

A Good Conviction
by Lew Weinstein

Imagine yourself in Sing Sing prison, convicted of a murder you did not commit. How do you survive? How do you keep hope alive that your life will ever again be anything but terror and pain? Then it gets worse: you begin to suspect that the Manhattan prosecutor who tried your case knew you were actually innocent.

A Good Conviction is fiction, but it is drawn from real-life cases that, we are learning, are all too common.

Click HERE to read a message from the author, Lew Weinstein.

Mistakes were Made (But Not by Me)
Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Harmful Acts
by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson

Why was it so hard for our President to admit that there were no W.M.D.'s in Iraq or that Saddam had no links to Al Qaeda? Why is it so difficult for some prosecutors and police officers to accept the reality of a wrongful conviction? Answers to these and other questions can be found in a new book by eminent social psychologists Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson. In Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts, Tavris and Aronson explain that the reason why humans have so much difficulty in admitting error is our need for self-justification, an all too human tendency.

Click HERE to read Prof. Steve Drizin's entire review of this important book.

No Smoke: The Shocking Truth About British Justice by Sandra Lean

A life-long fascination with the workings of the human mind, and especially the workings of the "criminal mind," led Sandra Lean, at the age of 32, through the doors of Napier University in Edinburgh. A single parent of two young children, she studied Psychology and Sociology to Honours Degree level. A Masters' Degree in Forensic Psychology seemed like the most obvious next step, until a local, high-profile murder hit the headlines. Behind the scenes, Sandra Lean began sifting through the facts, only to discover that all was not as it seemed. What she found led her to other, similar cases, and more patient, methodical sifting, in an investigation that was to last almost four years. The result was a shocking, but true, discovery. Innocent people are being locked up in our prisons, convicted of the most horrific crimes, on a regular basis. These are not one-off, tragic mistakes, but rather, a routine, everyday occurrence. For every high-profile miscarriage of justice that we hear about, there are dozens more that never make the news. No Smoke examines just some of these cases, highlighting the very human tragedy of wrongful conviction, and pointing out the unthinkable: this could happen to any one of us.

No Smoke is only available in the UK. But click HERE to read about the case that led Sandra to write this book.

Last Words from Death Row
by Norma Herrera

"I am innocent, innocent, innocent. I am an innocent man, and something very wrong is taking place tonight." -- Last words of Leonel Herrera before his execution.

When Herrera, convicted of killing two police officers, tried to present important and compelling evidence of his innocence, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that innocence is not a basis for federal habeas corpus relief. Four months later, Herrera was put to death. His sister, Norma, has kept her promise to him, detailing the court events and press coverage of the ultimately fruitless effort to save Leonel from the legal system itself.

Click HERE for more information about this book.

Until You Are Dead
by Julian Sher

Until You Are Dead chronicles the loss of Canada’s innocence. Prior to June 11, 1959, Canadian parents could allow their children to play outdoors, unsupervised, in places children traditionally love: schoolyards, fields and nearby swimming holes. But on that hot summer day, when the body of a twelve-year-old girl turned up in a woody area near Clinton, Ontario, that innocence was shattered. The girl’s name was Lynne Harper and she had been raped and murdered. The summer was barely over before a popular schoolboy named Steven Truscott, fourteen years old at the time, was tried, convicted and sentenced to hang. Truscott spent ten years in prison after the federal cabinet commuted his death sentence. He has always maintained his innocence. His trial in 1959 was the most famous and controversial in Canadian history. As a producer at CBC TV’s the fifth estate, Julian Sher spent two years investigating the Steven Truscott story for an explosive documentary.

Click HERE to visit the book website.

The Innocent Man
by John Grisham

John Grisham tackles nonfiction for the first time with The Innocent Man, a true tale about murder and injustice in a small town. The Innocent Man chronicles the story of Ron Williamson, how he was arrested and charged with a crime he did not commit, how his case was (mis)handled and how an innocent man was sent to death row. Grisham's first work of nonfiction is shocking, disturbing, and enthralling--a must read for fiction and nonfiction fans.

Click HERE to read review by Steve Weinberg, author of Harmful Error.

Journey Toward Justice
by Dennis Frtiz

Dennis Fritz, who, along with Ron Williamson, was convicted of a murder he did not commit, tells the rest of the story begun by John Grisham in The Innocent Man. Before his conviction, Dennis Fritz taught middle school science and coached football, basketball and track. Since his release, Dennis has been enjoying his freedom to the fullest. He is a spokesman for the Innocence Project at fundraising events and works first hand with inmates. He serves as a board member of the Coalition to Demolish the Death Penalty.

The Dreams of Ada
by Robert Mayer

The true, bewildering case of Thomas Ward and Karl Fontenot, the story of a young woman’s disappearance, the nightmare of a small town obsessed with delivering justice, and the bizarre dream of a poor, uneducated man accused of murder—a case that chillingly parallels the one, occurring in the very same town, chronicled by John Grisham in The Innocent Man. Stunningly, the prosecution used the same snitch witness to obtain the convictions of Thomas Ward and Karl Fontenot it used to convict Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz.

Click HERE to visit the website of Thomas Ward and Karl Fontenot.

Anything You Say
The True Story Of One Man's Ordeal With A Derailed Murder Investigation
by Christopher DiStefano

Studies suggest that approximately 10% of all people convicted of committing a crime are factually innocent. And 90% of those wrongfully convicted people pled guilty or no contest. Why did they plead to something they didn't do? This book can help you understand. It is the true story of a man imprisoned for 6-1/2 years for a brutal murder he did not commit on the basis of a false confession. The confession was ultimately thrown out as involuntary. The case ended with a nolo contendere plea to Involuntary Manslaughter and release on time served.

Click HERE to read the review by Steve Drizin, expert on false confessions and Director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law.

Cry Rape
A blind woman is raped, forced to recant her report, then charged with a crime.
by Bill Lueders

'In a textbook example of how not to investigate rape, Patty was disbelieved, humiliated, and treated like a criminal while promising leads were ignored. Her fight for justice is an important and inspiring story, as well as a warning that old ways of thought about women persist in surprising places. As full of twists and turns as a msytery novel, and as tightly written, Cry Rape lays bare the underside of one of our nation's most liberal and attractive cities."
--Katha Pollitt, columnist for The Nation

Learn more about this case, this book and the author at

CryRapeBook.com

Death Row Defender
by Ray Dix (a writer who happens to be a lawyer)

It has been five years since Jon Clayton was convicted of the rape and execution style murder of Donella Nash. It is springtime in an election year and, as part of the Governor's war on crime, Jon Clayton is scheduled to be excuted in October. Clayton stills swears he is innocent, but had a record of violence and the bullet found in Nash's head came from his pistol. Woody Thomas, an ex-Public Defender, is appointed by the court to pursue Clayton's final appeal. Woody relives the trial through the transcripts, then locates and questions the witnesses. The case looks solid, but federal agents begin to follow him, local police try to frame him, and someone is trying to kill him. As Woody troubles mount, the murder case begins to fall apart and the Governor signs Clayton's death warrant - five months early.

For more information, visit www.raydixbooks.com

Indefensible: One Lawyer's Journey into the Inferno of American Justice
by David Feige

Indefensible is David Feige's darkly funny and thrilling account of an ordinary day in the complicated life of a public defender in the South Bronx. In the span of a single day we meet murderers and misdemeanants, loutish lawyers, and vindictive judges. We race from courtroom to courtroom, judge to judge, and defendant to defendant, in a shocking behind-the-scenes look at big city justice as it really happens. This is a book full of black comedy and outrage, of unforgettable characters and situations. Written with the verve and insider know-how of a John Grisham thriller, but with the social conscience of a Barbara Ehrenreich, Indefensible has real crossover potential--and should ignite a profound debate about law and order in America. It puts a human face on the terrifying systemic failures that make American criminal justice the dirty little secret of our time.

Watching Death: Capital Punishment in America
by V. Wayne Sorge

This is a unique collection of observations with additional research about the ultimate punishment. For ten years, Wayne Sorge observed executions in Texas while working as news director of KSAM AM/FM in Huntsville. He was the official reporter representing United Press International to witness executions during that period of time. He also witnessed executions in Mississippi later and covered different aspects of the capital punishment debate earlier as he worked in Kansas. While in Huntsville, Wayne witnessed 183 lethal injections, including two women. He witnessed two men who were put to death in the state of Mississippi. During all that time, he has observed the debate of those who support or oppose the death penalty whether it be for political, religious or personal reasons, and he studied the concerns that prompted leaders in Illinois and elsewhere to challenge their system of capital punishment. Sorge covers the final moments of those on death row as well as background on cases and the impact of capital punishment on communities and individuals.

Who Killed Sarah?
by Sheila Berry and Doug Berry

Sarah Gonstead disappeared in the early morning hours of March 15, 1994 in Madison, Wisconsin, after she and Penny Brummer had been out drinking together. The path she took led her directly to outlaw bikers, engaged in a turf war and recruiting new members. But when Sarah's body was found 40 days later, Brummer was the only suspect. Witnesses with valuable information were criticized, even humiliated. Leads that went anywhere else were ignored, as were the classic signs of innocence. No physical evidence tied Brummer to the crime; the murder weapon was never found. Brummer had an alibi -- she was at home 40 miles away when Sarah was killed. She had no criminal record and no history of violence. It was enough for the jury to convict Brummer and send her to prison for the rest of her life. But did she do it? Or is Penny Brummer a victim of the legal system, just as Sarah Gonstead was a victim of a cold killer?

Click HERE for more information.

Surviving Justice: America's Wrongfully Convicted and Exonerated
by Dave Eggers and Lola Vollen

Beverly Monroe spent seven years in prison for murdering her companion of thirteen years; in fact, he had killed himself. Christopher Ochoa was persuaded to confess to a rape and murder he did not commit, and served twelve years of his life sentence before he was freed by DNA evidence. Michael Evans and Paul Terry each spent twenty-seven years in prison for a brutal rape and murder they did not commit. They were teenagers when they entered prison; they were middle-aged men when DNA proved their innocence.

The thirteen men and women portrayed here, and the hundreds of others who have been exonerated, are the tip of the iceberg. There are countless others—thousands by all estimates—who are in prison today for crimes they did not commit. These are the stories of some of the wrongfully convicted, who have managed, often by sheer luck, to prove their innocence. Their stories are spellbinding, heartbreaking, unimaginable, and ultimately inspiring. After reading these deeply personal accounts, you will never look at the criminal justice system the same way.

Wilkie Collins' The Dead Alive : The Novel, the Case, and Wrongful Convictions
by Rob Warden

Wilkie Collins might well be the first author of a legal thriller. Here is the lawyer out of sorts with his profession; the legal process gone awry; even a touch of romance to soften the rigors of the law. And here, too, recast as fiction, is the United States' first documented wrongful conviction case. Side by side with the novel, this book presents the real-life legal thriller Collins used as his model-the story of two brothers, Jesse and Stephen Boorn, sentenced to death in Vermont in 1819 for the murder of their brother-in-law, and belatedly exonerated when their "victim" showed up alive and well in New Jersey in 1820. Rob Warden reconsiders the facts of the Boorn case for what they can tell us about the systemic flaws that produced this first known miscarriage of justice-flaws that continue to riddle our system of justice today.

Click HERE for Chicago Sun-Times review.

Courtroom 302: A year Behind the Scenes in an American Criminal Courthouse
by Steve Bogira

Chicago-based journalist Bogira's first book is an outstanding journey inside the American criminal justice system that nicely complements last year's Blue Blood, Edward Conlon's inside look at the life of a big-city cop. Like that instant classic, this book—centered on the Cook County Criminal Courthouse, "the biggest and busiest felony courthouse in the nation"—punctures the popular myths engendered by TV shows like Law and Order to provide a balanced view of the realities of the day-to-day, assembly-line grind that marks so much of the process from arrest to final disposition. The author's ability to gain the trust of so many different participants in the grim drama—judges, public defenders, prosecutors, court officers, prison guards and many defendants—is remarkable, and he often comes close to presenting a more complete picture of the truth of a particular crime than emerge in court in the or in the few cases that actually go to trial. Despite this access, Bogira does not gild the people he describes; even Judge Daniel Locallo, the book's central figure—whose courtroom witnesses racial violence, pathetic thievery, the abused and the mentally incompetent, and who, on balance emerges positively—is portrayed warts and all. The brilliance of Bogira's insights will lead many to hope that he will follow this debut with proposals to cure the many ills he has diagnosed. - Publishers Weekly

Constitutional Chaos:
What Happens When the Government Breaks Its Own Laws
by Andrew P. Napolitano

In this alarming book, Judge Napolitano makes the solid case that there is a pernicious and ever-expanding pattern of government abuse in America's criminal justice system, leading him to establish his general creed: "The government is not your friend." As an attorney, a law professor, a commentator, a judge, and now a successful television personality, Judge Napolitano has studied the system inside and out, and his unique voice has resonance and relevance. Whether in the big, headliner criminal cases or in the thousands of small-town trials no one ever hears about (but should), the police, the prosecutors, the politicians, the judges, and the machinery of government are inexorably grinding away at the individual liberties guaranteed to all Americans by the Constitution. But in this sensational new book, Napolitano sets the record straight, speaking frankly from his own experiences and careful, thorough investigation and revealing how government agencies will often arrest without warrant, spy without legal authority, imprison without charge, and kill without cause.

On American Soil by Jack Hamann

When TV journalist Hamann was covering the expansion of a sewage-treatment plant at Seattle’s Discovery Park some 18 years ago, a ranger told him of an odd headstone at the park, dated August 14, 1944, with an Italian inscription. The offhanded remark would lead Hamann to investigate an unsolved murder of Italian POW Guglielmo Olivotto at the park, which was then an Army base known as Fort Lawton. More than 10,000 military personnel were at the base at any given time during the war, including soldiers leaving for, or returning from, the Pacific; Italian prisoners of war captured by Allied troops in northern Africa; and a large contingent of segregated black soldiers who served primarily as porters to load and unload ships in the Pacific theater. The storyline that Hamann uncovers is compelling enough. But it is the crime's historical context—wartime racial dynamics, colossal Army incompetence, international political implications, and the (humane) treatment of POWs, for example—that makes the book so relevant now.

True Witness
by James Doyle

Honest but mistaken eyewitnesses are the leading cause of wrongful convictions in the United States. As the innocent go to prison their lives are shattered; as the criminal goes free, the public remains vulnerable. With a vivid cast of brilliant scientists, street-wise cops, and former prosecutors--all haunted by the legacy of wrongful convictions, some directly involved with one--Doyle sheds light on the intersection of personal ambition, legal and political principles, and scientific inquiry. He highlights real possibilities for improved identification, their challenges to the legal tradition, and persuasively argues that the promises of improved justice must be realized before another wrongful conviction lets the guilty go free. This is an important look at a pressing issue in the news with every exoneration.

The Death Penalty on Trial: Crisis in American Justice
by Bill Kurtis

Bill Kurtis, the A&E host and Kansas booster, has had an uncomfortably up-close view of the worst in human nature for much of his career. But the man who covered the Manson family trials has lately been sickened by the idea that our justice system has sent innocent men to the death chamber.

“Look, I was for the death penalty,” Kurtis said in a telephone interview, “but looking at these cases and the rapidly increasing number of exonerations, there are just too many possibilities for error.” In the state of Illinois, where Kurtis Productions is based, 13 men were set free in the late 1990s after research — some of it done as a class project by journalism students — uncovered grave errors in their cases.

Click HERE to read the rest of this review by Aaron Barnhart of the Kansas City Star.

Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People
by John Conroy

Torture is a commonplace evil, and it is infectious. Governments, their agents, and their citizens have done little to halt the resurgence and spread of this barbaric practice; in fact, they have proved more than ready to institutionalize it and protect the perpetrators from scrutiny. If confronting torture is possible, the task must surely center on raising awareness and generating widespread indignation. Conroy draws on three case studies of torture -- in Northern Ireland, Israeli-occupied Gaza and Chicago, Illinois -- to make plain that the phenomenon is not limited to "them" rather than "us," but that each of us might, under the wrong circumstances, be drawn as perpetrators into the web of torture and atrocity.

Click HERE for St. Petersburg [Florida] Times coverage of Chicago police torturer Jon Burge.

Suspect Identities: A History of Fingerprinting and Criminal Identification
by Simon Cole

In Suspect Identities, Simon Cole reveals that the history of criminal identification is far murkier than we have been led to believe. Cole traces the modern system of fingerprint identification to the nineteenth-century bureaucratic state, and its desire to track and control increasingly mobile, diverse populations whose race or ethnicity made them suspect in the eyes of authorities. In an intriguing history that traverses the globe, taking us to India, Argentina, France, England, and the United States, Cole excavates the forgotten history of criminal identification--from photography to exotic anthropometric systems based on measuring body parts, from fingerprinting to DNA typing. He reveals how fingerprinting ultimately won the trust of the public and the law only after a long battle against rival identification systems.

Click HERE for Amazon.com review and excerpts

Innocent: Inside Wrongful Conviction Cases
by Scott Christianson

Innocent graphically documents forty-two recent criminal cases to find evidence of shocking miscarriages of justice, especially in murder cases. Based upon interviews with more than 200 people and reviews of hundreds of internal case files, court records, smoking-gun memoranda, and other documents, Scott Christianson gets inside the legal cases and displays them through documents and images of the people and evidence involved.

Some of the defendants in Innocent are still in prison, trying to prove their innocence to the courts. Others have had their convictions reversed and the charges against them dismissed, and still others have been awarded civil damages after the state conceded their innocence. The result is a powerful work that recounts the human costs of a criminal justice system gone awry, and shows us how wrongful convictions can — and do — happen everywhere.

Click HERE for Amazon.com review.