Innocent: Inside Wrongful Conviction Cases (Hardcover)

by Scott Christianson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
A chilling chronicle of what can happen when the criminal justice system goes awry, Christianson's volume documents 42 cases in which an innocent person was sentenced for a crime that she or he didn't commit. An investigative reporter who specializes in the American prisons, Christianson (With Liberty for Some; Condemned) finds the usual evils in our beleaguered, bureaucratic judicial system-prejudiced juries, mistaken identification, ineffective counsel. More frightening, however, are the cases that he reveals involve deliberate institutional corruption-false confessions, fabrication of evidence or misconduct by police or prosecutors. Despite the publicity surrounding the recent exoneration of some prisoners who were freed after the reconsideration of DNA evidence, many wrongfully convicted people still remain incarcerated. The powerful and compelling stories of such innocent victims carry this book, which is otherwise rather shoddily assembled-the anecdotes and photographs lack cohesion or orderly arrangement. Readers may be frustrated by the book's episodic structure and lack of narrative unity, but the subject is an undeniably important one.
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Review

"A chilling chronicle of what can happen when the criminal justice system goes awry."

- Publishers Weekly

"Innocent is an excellent recommendation to make the next time someone questions the need for further criminal justice reform."

- New York Law Journal

"This should be required reading for everyone who gives a damn about justice in this country.”

- Mickey Sherman, CBS News legal analyst

"Christianson succeeds in raising reasonable doubts and questions about the integrity of our criminal justice system. Written with perceptiveness and sympathy for the plight of the wrongly convicted, [Innocent] is an excellent addition to the literature on miscarriages of justice."

- Justicia

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 180 pages
• Publisher: NYU Press (February 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814716342
• ISBN-13: 978-0814716342
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,545,679 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for anyone concerned about justice!, January 28, 2004

By A Customer

I've never read anything quite like this book. The author, who displays an unusual depth and breadth of knowledge about the system, has selected twelve cases of "actual innocence": people who have,through "bad" eyewitness accounts, heresay evidence and/or outright corruption been unjustly convicted and jailed for many years. The stories are HEARTBREAKING and told with great clarity. Fortunately many of these people (several of which have already been exonerated - though not compensated!!) have legal teams and other committed professionals (such as the author) who labor on their behalf pro bono. It seems that the only way our justice system can be reformed is through media exposure, and this book is an eloquent example. Today New York, tomorrow, Texas . . . .

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but disjointed, November 14, 2007

By	Karen Franklin "Forensic Psychologist" (El Cerrito, CA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Innocent: Inside Wrongful Conviction Cases (Paperback)

Wrongful conviction is an important topic that is getting more attention these days. Christianson, an investigative reporter who's written a string of related books on criminal justice issues, obviously did a lot of research on the 40-some cases that he presents here, combing through court records and interviewing hundreds of people.

I liked the way he arranged the cases to illustrate common themes, including mistaken identification, eyewitness perjury, poor legal representation, false confessions, forensic evidence errors, and - perhaps most importantly - the presumption of guilt rather than innocence in the criminal justice system, especially when the defendant is poor and/or minority. Also intriguing were his chapters describing cases in which deliberate misconduct by police and prosecutors led to wrongful convictions. The many photographs of the wrongfully convicted lent humanity to these stories.

Christian effectively shatters the myth that innocent people who are wrongfully convicted are automatically freed and compensated. (Many remain imprisoned.) He also makes important points about the coercive nature of the plea-bargaining system, in which innocent people may feel insurmountable pressure to plead guilty to avoid a longer prison term if they fight their case. And he also makes the point that innocent people are usually only exonerated if a good samaritan happens to take an interest in their case. Some of the heroes that Christianson features here sunk their entire life savings into proving a convict's innocence, or devoted all of their waking hours to that person's release.

But it is only in the brief introduction that we hear Christianson's voice and all of this fascinating analysis. The rest of the book feels disjointed and superficial. The hodge-podge style and lack of depth was frustrating and made me lose interest. This is probably a good resource book for dedicated activists in the field, but may be a little too disorganized for the average reader. Unless perhaps to equip a waiting room with casual browsing material, thanks in part to its many photos.