Junk Science And The American Criminal Justice System

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Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System

Author : M. Chris Fabricant
Publisher : Akashic Books
Page : 350 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2022-04-05
Category : True Crime
ISBN : 9781636140384

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Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System by M. Chris Fabricant Pdf

Innocence Project attorney M. Chris Fabricant presents an insider’s journey into the heart of a broken, racist system of justice and the role junk science plays in maintaining the status quo. Praise from John Grisham, author of A Time for Mercy: "No one in America will ever know the number of innocent people convicted, sent to prison, and even executed because of the flood of rotten forensics and bogus scientific opinions presented to juries. In this intriguing and beautifully crafted book, Innocence Project lawyer M. Chris Fabricant illustrates how wrongful convictions occur, and he makes it obvious how they could be prevented." "Fierce and absorbing . . . Fabricant chronicles the battles he and his colleagues have fought to unravel a century of fraudulent experts and the bad court decisions that allowed them to thrive." —Washington Post "Junk Science is a book that should be on every true-crime reader's shelves. It is an eye-opening and infuriating tour through the failed idealism of forensic science as a discipline, how certain techniques like analyzing fibers and bite marks wilt under scrutiny, and how the criteria for 'experts' in a courtroom can be laughable at best and dangerous at worst, causing scores of innocent people to lose decades behind bars (or, in some heartbreaking instances, their lives.)." —Slate, one of "The Best New True Crime That Won't Make You Feel Gross" From CSI to Forensic Files to the celebrated reputation of the FBI crime lab, forensic scientists have long been mythologized in American popular culture as infallible crime solvers. Juries put their faith in "expert witnesses" and innocent people have been executed as a result. Innocent people are still on death row today, condemned by junk science. In 2012, the Innocence Project began searching for prisoners convicted by junk science, and three men, each convicted of capital murder, became M. Chris Fabricant's clients. Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System chronicles the fights to overturn their wrongful convictions and to end the use of the "science" that destroyed their lives. Weaving together courtroom battles from Mississippi to Texas to New York City and beyond, Fabricant takes the reader on a journey into the heart of a broken, racist system of justice and the role forensic science plays in maintaining the status quo. At turns gripping, enraging, illuminating, and moving, Junk Science is a meticulously researched insider's perspective of the American criminal justice system. Previously untold stories of wrongful executions, corrupt prosecutors, and quackery masquerading as science animate Fabricant’s true crime narrative.

The Collapse of American Criminal Justice

Author : William J. Stuntz
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 425 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2011-09-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9780674051751

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The Collapse of American Criminal Justice by William J. Stuntz Pdf

Rule of law has vanished in America’s criminal justice system. Prosecutors decide whom to punish; most accused never face a jury; policing is inconsistent; plea bargaining is rampant; and draconian sentencing fills prisons with mostly minority defendants. A leading criminal law scholar looks to history for the roots of these problems—and solutions.

The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist

Author : Radley Balko,Tucker Carrington
Publisher : PublicAffairs
Page : 319 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2018-02-27
Category : History
ISBN : 9781610396929

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The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist by Radley Balko,Tucker Carrington Pdf

A shocking and deeply reported account of the persistent plague of institutional racism and junk forensic science in our criminal justice system, and its devastating effect on innocent lives After two three-year-old girls were raped and murdered in rural Mississippi, law enforcement pursued and convicted two innocent men: Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks. Together they spent a combined thirty years in prison before finally being exonerated in 2008. Meanwhile, the real killer remained free. The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist recounts the story of how the criminal justice system allowed this to happen, and of how two men, Dr. Steven Hayne and Dr. Michael West, built successful careers on the back of that structure. For nearly two decades, Hayne, a medical examiner, performed the vast majority of Mississippi's autopsies, while his friend Dr. West, a local dentist, pitched himself as a forensic jack-of-all-trades. Together they became the go-to experts for prosecutors and helped put countless Mississippians in prison. But then some of those convictions began to fall apart. Here, Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington tell the haunting story of how the courts and Mississippi's death investigation system -- a relic of the Jim Crow era -- failed to deliver justice for its citizens. The authors argue that bad forensics, structural racism, and institutional failures are at fault, raising sobering questions about our ability and willingness to address these crucial issues.

Galileo's Revenge

Author : Peter W. Huber
Publisher : Basic Books
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 1993-03-24
Category : Law
ISBN : 0465026249

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Galileo's Revenge by Peter W. Huber Pdf

A scathing indictment of the growing role of junk science in our courtrooms. Peter W. Huber shows how time and again lawyers have used—and the courts have accepted—spurious claims by so-called expert witnesses to win astronomical judgments that have bankrupted companies, driven doctors out of practice, and deprived us all of superior technologies and effective, life-saving therapies.

The Collapse of American Criminal Justice

Author : William J. Stuntz
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 848 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2011-11-29
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780674062603

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The Collapse of American Criminal Justice by William J. Stuntz Pdf

Rule of law has vanished in America’s criminal justice system. Prosecutors decide whom to punish; most accused never face a jury; policing is inconsistent; plea bargaining is rampant; and draconian sentencing fills prisons with mostly minority defendants. A leading criminal law scholar looks to history for the roots of these problems—and solutions.

Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States

Author : National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics,Policy and Global Affairs,Committee on Science, Technology, and Law,Committee on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Sciences Community
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 348 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2009-07-29
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780309142397

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Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States by National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics,Policy and Global Affairs,Committee on Science, Technology, and Law,Committee on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Sciences Community Pdf

Scores of talented and dedicated people serve the forensic science community, performing vitally important work. However, they are often constrained by lack of adequate resources, sound policies, and national support. It is clear that change and advancements, both systematic and scientific, are needed in a number of forensic science disciplines to ensure the reliability of work, establish enforceable standards, and promote best practices with consistent application. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward provides a detailed plan for addressing these needs and suggests the creation of a new government entity, the National Institute of Forensic Science, to establish and enforce standards within the forensic science community. The benefits of improving and regulating the forensic science disciplines are clear: assisting law enforcement officials, enhancing homeland security, and reducing the risk of wrongful conviction and exoneration. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States gives a full account of what is needed to advance the forensic science disciplines, including upgrading of systems and organizational structures, better training, widespread adoption of uniform and enforceable best practices, and mandatory certification and accreditation programs. While this book provides an essential call-to-action for congress and policy makers, it also serves as a vital tool for law enforcement agencies, criminal prosecutors and attorneys, and forensic science educators.

Fixing This Broken Thing...The American Criminal Justice System

Author : James B Bolen PhD
Publisher : Page Publishing Inc
Page : 130 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2020-11-07
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781641386951

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Fixing This Broken Thing...The American Criminal Justice System by James B Bolen PhD Pdf

What war on drugs? Is our government complicit in the continued proliferation of the illegal drug trade in our nation? This supposed war on drugs has been ongoing for better than one hundred years with no apparent conclusion in sight. Perhaps we should entertain a new strategy to achieve ultimate victory in this never-ending conflict.Our criminal court system provides numerous avenues for offenders to eschew responsibility for their misdeeds. Overburdened criminal courts rely heavily u

The American Criminal Justice System

Author : Gerhard Falk
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 260 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2010-03-11
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780313383489

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The American Criminal Justice System by Gerhard Falk Pdf

This critical yet honest appraisal of our criminal justice system addresses its strengths and its flaws—and makes recommendations for improvement. The American Criminal Justice System: How It Works, How It Doesn't, and How to Fix It calls attention to a criminal justice system that needs improvement. Author Gerhard Falk shows that the police themselves often violate the law; that prosecutors send innocent citizens to prison and even to death row; that defense attorneys take on cases they are not prepared to handle; that juries vote guilt or innocence on the basis of emotion, not facts; that judges are often failed attorneys or unscrupulous politicians; and that jails and prisons are too frequently warehouses of the poor. As background for his analysis, Falk discusses the history of the police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges, as well as the history of prisons and "the prison industrial complex." He also offers a devastating analysis of the death penalty and its practitioners. The book ends with recommendations for the improvement of our criminal justice system so that America can truly be, as our Supreme Court proclaims, a land of "Equal Justice under Law."

In Doubt

Author : Dan Simon
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 416 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2012-06-30
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780674065116

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In Doubt by Dan Simon Pdf

Criminal justice is unavoidably human. Detectives, witnesses, suspects, and victims shape investigations; prosecutors, defense attorneys, jurors, and judges affect the outcome of adjudication. Simon shows how flawed investigations produce erroneous evidence and why well-meaning juries send innocent people to prison and set the guilty free.

Criminal Justice in America

Author : Roscoe Pound
Publisher : Transaction Publishers
Page : 244 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 1997-01-01
Category : Law
ISBN : 1560009411

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Criminal Justice in America by Roscoe Pound Pdf

Roscoe Pound believed that unless the criminal justice system maintains stability while adapting to change, it will either fossilize or be subject to the whims of public opinion. In Criminal Justice in America, Pound recognizes the dangers law faces when it does not keep pace with societal change. When the home, neighborhood, and religion are no longer capable of social control, increased conflicts arise, laws proliferate, and new menaces wrought by technology, drugs, and juvenile delinquency flourish. Where Pound saw the influence of the motion pictures as part of the "multiplication of the agencies of menace," today we might cite television and the Internet. His point still holds true: The "old machinery" cannot meet the evolving needs of society. In Criminal Justice in America, Pound points out that one aspect of the criminal justice problem is a rigid mechanical approach that resists change. The other dimension of the problem is that change, when it comes, will result from the pressure of public opinion. Justice suffers when the public is moved by the oldest of public feelings, vengeance. This can result in citizens taking the law into their own hands—from tax evasion to mob lynchings—as well as in altering the judicial system—from sensationalizing trials to producing wrongful convictions. Ron Christenson, in his new introduction, discusses the evolution of Roscoe Pound's career and thought. Pound's theories on jurisprudence were remarkably prescient. They continue to gain resonance as crimes become more and more sensationalized by the media. Criminal Justice in America is a fascinating study that should be read by legal scholars and professionals, sociologists, political theorists, and philosophers.

The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison

Author : Jeffrey Reiman,Paul Leighton
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 286 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2020-06-29
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781000063349

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The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison by Jeffrey Reiman,Paul Leighton Pdf

For 40 years, this classic text has taken the issue of economic inequality seriously and asked: Why are our prisons filled with the poor? Why aren’t the tools of the criminal justice system being used to protect Americans from predatory business practices and to punish well-off people who cause widespread harm? This new edition continues to engage readers in important exercises of critical thinking: Why has the U.S. relied so heavily on tough crime policies despite evidence of their limited effectiveness, and how much of the decline in crime rates can be attributed to them? Why does the U.S. have such a high crime rate compared to other developed nations, and what could we do about it? Are the morally blameworthy harms of the rich and poor equally translated into criminal laws that protect the public from harms on the streets and harms from the suites? How much class bias is present in the criminal justice system – both when the rich and poor engage in the same act, and when the rich use their leadership of corporations to perpetrate mass victimization? The Rich Get Richer shows readers that much of what goes on in the criminal justice system violates citizens’ sense of basic fairness. It presents extensive evidence from mainstream data that the criminal justice system does not function in the way it says it does nor in the way that readers believe it should. The authors develop a theoretical perspective from which readers might understand these failures and evaluate them morally—and they to do it in a short text written in plain language. Readers who are not convinced about the larger theoretical perspective will still have engaged in extensive critical thinking to identify their own taken-for-granted assumptions about crime and criminal justice, as well as uncover the effects of power on social practices. This engagement helps readers develop their own worldview. New to this edition: Presents recent data comparing the harms due to criminal activity with the harms of dangerous—but not criminal—corporate actions Updates statistics on crime, victimization, incarceration, wealth, and discrimination Increased material for thinking critically about criminal justice and criminology Increased discussion of the criminality of middle- and upper-class youth Increased coverage of role of criminal justice fines and fees in generating revenue for government, and how algorithms reproduce class bias while seeming objective Streamlined and condensed prose for greater clarity

Using Social Science to Reduce Violent Offending

Author : Joel A. Dvoskin,Jennifer L. Skeem,Raymond W. Novaco,Kevin S. Douglas
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2011-09-16
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9780199909759

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Using Social Science to Reduce Violent Offending by Joel A. Dvoskin,Jennifer L. Skeem,Raymond W. Novaco,Kevin S. Douglas Pdf

Over the past three decades, the American criminal justice system has become unapologetically punitive. High rates of incarceration and frequent use of long-term segregation have become commonplace, with little concern for evidence that such practices make the public safer - and as the editors of this groundbreaking volume assert, they do not. Bringing together experts in the fields of social science, forensic psychology and criminal justice, Using Social Science to Reduce Violent Offending addresses what truly works in reducing violent offending. Promoting an approach to correctional policy grounded in an evidence-based and nuanced understanding of human behavior, leading authorities from the United States, Canada, and Great Britain offer specific and practical strategies for improving the criminal and juvenile justice systems. Beginning by covering the history and scope of violent crime and incarceration in the U.S., this pioneering volume offers clear and practical recommendations for implementing approaches focused on behavioral change of even the most particular offender groups, such as juvenile offenders, sexual offenders, and offenders with mental illnesses. The authors argue for a more scientifically informed justice system, one where offenders-through correctional approaches such as community-based treatments and cognitive behavioral interventions-can be expected to learn the skills they will need to succeed in avoiding crime upon release. Authors also highlight methods for overcoming system inertia in order to implement these recommendations. Drawing on the science of human behavior to inform correctional practice, this book is an invaluable resource for policymakers, practitioners, mental health and criminal justice professionals, and anyone interested in the science behind the policies surrounding criminal punishment.

Crime and Criminal Justice in America

Author : Joycelyn Pollock
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 567 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2017-02-17
Category : Law
ISBN : 9781351979870

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Crime and Criminal Justice in America by Joycelyn Pollock Pdf

Crime and Criminal Justice in America, Third Edition, addresses the major controversial issues in U.S. policing, courts, and the correctional system. This book features unique graphics and contemporary data and research, developed by Joycelyn Pollock, criminologist, and University Distinguished Professor of Criminal Justice, Texas State University. The text’s question-and-answer model promotes a critical thinking process for students new to criminal justice, encouraging student engagement and the application of learned skills through end-of-chapter exercises. Timely, comprehensive, and visually stimulating, Crime and Criminal Justice in America, Third Edition, is the go-to text for introductory criminal justice students and educators.

American Injustice

Author : David S. Rudolf
Publisher : HarperCollins
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2022-02-03
Category : LAW
ISBN : 0008525099

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American Injustice by David S. Rudolf Pdf

From the fearless defense attorney and civil rights lawyer who rose to fame with Netflix's The Staircase comes an essential examination of America's corrupt and abusive criminal justice system.

Flawed Convictions

Author : Deborah Tuerkheimer
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 322 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2015
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780190233617

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Flawed Convictions by Deborah Tuerkheimer Pdf

This book surveys the scientific, cultural, and legal history of Shaken Baby Syndrome from inception to formal dissolution. It exposes extraordinary failings in the criminal justice system's treatment of what is, in essence, a medical diagnosis of murder.--Publisher's description.