Anatomia niewinności. Świadectwa niesłusznie skazanych

by Laura Caldwell, Leslie S. Klinger, Scott Turow

Wzorując się na wybitnych demaskatorach z przeszłości, grupa oburzonych literackich sław Ameryki jednoczy się, by stawić czoło koszmarowi bezprawnych wyroków.

„Anatomia niewinności to bardzo ważna książka, która ukazuje triumfy i osobiste tragedie niesłusznie skazanych. Wszystkie zawarte w niej opowieści trzymają czytelnika na muszce i powinny stanowić zarazem wyzwanie i przestrogę. Są niezapomniane, wstrząsające i niepozbawione nadziei.”
Michael Connelly, autor bestsellerowych serii powieści o Harrym Boschu i Mickeyu Hallerze

[opis wydawcy]

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Crime, Law, Essays, Audiobook, Anthologies

280 pages, Paperback

First published March 28, 2017

About the author

Laura Caldwell is a Chicago-based lawyer turned novelist. Her first book, Burning the Map, was selected by Barnes & Noble.com as one of The Best of 2002. Following that, A Clean Slate received a starred review from Booklist. The release of The Year of Living Famously and The Night I Got Lucky prompted Booklist to declare, “Caldwell is one of the most talented and inventive...writers around.”

Laura began publishing thrillers and suspense novels in 2005. Her debut mystery, Look Closely, received critical acclaim and The Chicago Sun-Times called The Rome Affair “Caldwell’s most exciting book yet…a summer must-read.” The Rome Affair, which centers around a Chicago society couple riding a roller coaster of infidelity, blackmail and murder, pulled Laura into a real-life, highly-profiled murder trial involving a 19-year old suspect forced into a confession and wrongfully jailed for a crime he did not commit. Laura became one of the attorneys who represented the suspect pro bono, resulting in a not-guilty verdict.

Laura's newest is an international thriller, The Good Liar. Bestselling author Ken Bruen calls it "a massive achievement." Publisher's Weekly lauds it as "a taut, enjoyable thriller." And New York Times bestselling author James Rollins said, "THE GOOD LIAR strikes like an assassin's bullet: sudden, swift, precise, deadly. Here is a taut international thriller certain to keep readers breathless and awake until the wee hours of the morning. Not to be missed." Her work has been translated into ten languages and published in over twenty countries.

Before beginning her writing career, Laura was a trial attorney, specializing in medical malpractice defense and entertainment law. She is published in the legal field and is currently an Adjunct Professor of Law at her alma mater, Loyola University Chicago, where she teaches Advanced Writing for Litigation. She recently received the St. Robert Bellarmine award for distinguished contributions to the profession and the Loyola School of Law. In the summer of 2008, she will be teaching International Criminal Law at Loyola's campus in Rome, Italy.

Laura is also a freelance magazine writer. Her work has been published in Chicago Magazine, Woman's Own, The Young Lawyer, Lake Magazine, Australia Woman's Weekly, Shore Magazine and others. Her work can also be seen in Everything I Needed to Know About Being A Girl I Learned From Judy Blume (Pocket Books, 2007), It's A Wonderful Lie: Truth About Life In Your Twenties (Warner, 2006), Girl's Night In II (Red Dress Ink, 2006) Flirting With Pride & Prejudice (BenBella Books, 2005) and Welcome to Wisteria Lane: On America's Favorite Desperate Housewives (BenBella Books, 2006).

Reviews

[Zuky the BookBum · Rating 4 out of 5]

With movements like Black Lives Matter at the forefront of society right now, and multiple documentaries about wrongful convictions such as Steven Avery and The West Memphis Three out, there has never been a better time for this book to come out and be read. This topic is so important.

Reading about the lives of these poor, innocent human beings being treated like they’re dirt, like they’re less than dirt, is devastating. A number of these stories actually brought tears to my eyes. How this injustice goes on, I can’t fathom. In many of these stories we hear how there are alibis that prove the person wasn’t there to commit the crime, but they convict them anyway. There are confessions from other people to crimes, yet they will convict someone else. There is someone else’s DNA on a victim's body but they will commit someone whose DNA is not on the body. And possibly the worst one of them all, there are statements from VICTIMS that the person they have arrested is not the right person, yet they will still convict them. How can a legal system, that’s supposed to protect us and who we’re supposed to trust, let this happen? It makes my blood boil.

In this book, each person’s story is written by a prolific crime writer, so all of these accounts are really well written and they really bring out raw emotions in you because they’re so well presented and you can feel the exonerees pain.

Many of these people spent over a decade, if not over two decades of their life trapped in the walls of dirty prisons for crimes they were innocent of, such as murder, child murder, rape and GBH. The brutality of the officers arresting these people makes me sick. Literal torture is used on innocent people, as young as 17, to coax a false confession out of them, all because they want to be able to arrest someone. What makes me sicker is that these officers and the higher powers who turn(ed) a blind eye to this kind of abuse are never charged or made to own up to their brutalities AND because of the idiocy of these *insert the worst possible swear word and insults here* policemen, real child sex offenders and heartless murderers are NEVER CAUGHT.

This book is hopeful, but it is also heart breaking and while I could go on forever talking about the hatred and rage that this book makes me feel, but I’m going to end it with this instead.

GLORIA KILLIAN

DAVID BATES

RAY TOWLER

MICHAEL EVANS

KEN WYNIEMKO

KIRK BLOODWORTH

AUDREY EDMUNDS

ALTON LOGAN

PETER REILLY

GINNY LEFEVER

BILL DILLON

JEFF DESKOVIC

ANTOINE DAY

JERRY MILLER

JUAN RIVERA

You are brave and you are strong. Thank you for sharing your stories with us and shining a light on a subject so often ignored. I hope the world does nothing but right by you from here on in. You, over anyone, deserve it.

I have been inspired. I am now going to look into the UK’s own Innocence Group and see what I can do to help those 10% who are wrongly convicted and being left to rot in prison.

Thanks to Netgalley and W. W. Norton & Company for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Carly · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an intriguing concept: have a mystery writer--someone who makes a living inventing crimes and delving into a fictitious criminal justice system--with a real-life exoneree, someone for whom a red herring was a life-altering tragedy and not just an entertaining plot twist.

I will admit I didn't read the blurb carefully enough: I hadn't realized that these would be retellings by the writers rather than interviews. Why is the distinction so important? Because retellings run the risk of stealing the speaker's voice, transforming the story to fulfil the writer's preconceived notions, and commodifying the result. A collection like this is powerful but also dangerous: while it can give voices to those who have already been forced to suffer in silence, it can also stifle them. To my mind, examples of both exist in the collection. The worst offender, in my opinion, was Laurie R. King, who attributes incredibly naive thoughts and utterly simplistic language to her interviewee. She is so condescending that it made my teeth hurt. I generally was less happy about the chapters that tried to "novelify" people's lives with overblown drama and suspense, but I deeply appreciated those that gave an account of the interview itself as a journalist would. Probably my favourite retelling was Lee Child's recounting of Kirk Bloodsworth's story, which is told as an interview, with Bloodsworth telling his story in his own words. It is touching, and most importantly, it doesn't pretend to go behind his eyes but gets out of the way and helps him tell his story.

The crimes and circumstances run the gamut, from a woman accused of shaking a baby to death to a murdered wife to a gang shooting to a vicious rape, from a clear case of racist scapegoating to mistaken eyewitnesses to damning circumstantial evidence. Many of the cases involve police who forced confessions by torturing their suspects. In some of the stories, exoneration means the real culprit was found; in others, that the state was shown to have been corrupt or not to have proved its case. (As a side note, all of the stories are present unambiguous innocence of the exoneree and negligence or evil on the part of the state, which often means dropping other aspects of the cases that muddy the water. While I understand the rationale, I prefer not to be fed an oversimplification.) Each chapter ends with an editor's note discussing the history and current status of one part of the case, from DNA testing to negligent counsel to faulty forensic science to forced confessions and mistaken eyewitnesses. If you weren't aware of the extremely broken state of the US justice system, this collection will be an eyeopener. Even if you are, Anatomy of Innocence provides an interesting opportunity to hear the repercussions of a fallible justice system on people's lives.

~3.5

~~I received an advanced reader copy of this ebook through Netgalley from the publisher, W.W. Norton and Company, in exchange for my honest review. Thanks!~~

Cross-posted on BookLikes.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I spent much of my childhood believing that our justice system was overwhelmingly fair and transparent. Probably like many of the jurors that served on the cases of these innocent men and women, I thought that for them to even make it to trial meant that the cops and prosecutors must believe they had the right person. My eyes have been opened over the years, thanks in part to The Innocence Project, and even wider still with this book. Top authors like Lee Child and Sara Paretsky team up with 14 exonerees to tell their stories- the shock, anger, depression, and ultimately the hope that helped them persevere. I cannot recommend this book enough!

[Ed Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eye-opening and disheartening.

The corruption, incompetence, and racism that result in so many wrongful convictions and imprisonments are beyond belief. Anyone who thinks justice is blind or that we don’t have serious issues with the legal system in this country should put down the tik-tok and pick up this book.

I would have appreciated more detail in each of the cases. Some of the exonerated subjects served 20+ years and only get like six pages. I guess that speaks more to the diminishing attention span of the average American true crime reader more than it does anything else.

[Melissa Erin Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a horrifying collection of stories. It's incredible that even one story like this exists, let alone fourteen. (And, of course, this is only a very small subset of such tales.)

This anthology of fourteen stories about exonerees told through bestselling authors will enrage you and make you want to donate all your money to the Innocence Project.

[Gayle Pace · Rating 5 out of 5]

MY THOUGHTS

Times have changed from the gods deciding who was guilty or innocent to present day of humans making the decision. It is almost always uncertain if someone is guilty or innocent. But a decision must be made and in doing so, sometimes mistakes are made. Innocent people go to prison and sometimes, the guilty are set free. QUOTE: "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer" by William Blackstone, (1760's) Now readers will look at that quote differently. It's up to you as to your interpretation. The innocent are supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt." Some sentenced before the 1920's were exonerated with the DNA development. As time went on DNA testing became more sophisticated and it was found that there were more innocent behind bars than expected. The authors take exonerees' stories and give them to the reader to see how someone can be wrongfully convicted and serve time for something that they didn't do. Sometimes they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, at times, they may have been the escape goat. A lot of times, it isn't known why they were convicted. Perhaps the evidence was overwhelmingly against them. Here we are given 15 stories of exonerees who told their stories to different authors. Fifteen stories that you can sit in the courtroom and decide how these atrocities happened. This happens everyday. Someone is arrested, does jail time, goes to court and is judged by a jury of their peers and sometimes convicted, sometimes not. This happens more than the reader would care to know. The book gives us all some serious stories to think about. I, myself was shocked that this happens more than I ever thought. The book gives you a little history on the DNA usage from the time of development to present day. But even with the DNA, mistakes are still made. The finger can't be pointed at one person as the book shows. It takes a lot of people from victims, those being accused, witnesses, officers, judges, juries, social workers and the list goes on. Don't get me wrong. Everyone convicted and does time isn't innocent and everyone who is convicted and does time isn't guilty. Read this amazing book and decide for yourself. These authors give the reader so much to consider. Amazing book by exonerees and authors. Don't let this one go by.

I received a copy of this book from the authors and Night Owl Reviews and voluntarily decided to review it.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

What better way to express the constant state of quandary for wrongly convicted persons than to have award winning crime/mystery/thriller authors write theatrical short stories about them?

That is exactly what these aforementioned persons needed: somebody to capture the dangerously horrible and tumultuous environment that is the US prison system, and the people who survived the jungle.

As a black man, this book is heart wrenching throughout and personally makes me fortunate that I have not been a victim of the systemically racist justice system, featured here, that has imprisoned individuals based on things such as false witness testimony, police coercion, and lack of DNA testing due to lab funding.

I highly recommend this book as it will uplift your faith in humanity to see how positive these individuals become following their exoneration.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book was interesting and sad to read I felt the writing, despite being from several different writers, was not of a high caliber. I don't feel each of the stories was told in depth, and I was left feeling shorted and sometimes confused at the end of a chapter. The over all message was received however, that our judicial system is broken and racism is still an issue. I feel this book is important even if it was not written as well as I would have liked. I will read more about this topic and feel deeply saddened for these people having to experience the injustices that were given.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great concept, but ultimately the book is a collection of very short (2-3 page) vignettes about people who found themselves convicted of things they didn't do, all written by different authors. Ultimately, it just felt sad and light because no story was really examined in depth, nor was there thought about the underlying issues. In other words: too superficial to be interesting for the sake of each particular story, and no coherence to examining the issues that let this happen.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories of the exonerees in the book are heartbreaking, and then miscarriages.of justice severe. While the idea of having mystery authors write each individual story is great, the stories ae simply too short -- I feel as though each of the people profiled deserve more, and I longed to know more about each of them.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each chapter is written by a different author and is about a different person. It has some gripping stories of people who were falsely charged with a crime and made to suffer years of imprisonment for it. I found it eye-opening in regards to our justice system, our prison system and law enforcement.

[Dee Halzack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Through 15 short selections presenting the stories of people, both men and women, who were convicted and then exonerated, Laura Caldwell presents a compelling indictment of our justice system. An editorial note at the end of each selection presents comments on the particular things in the story that contributed to the wrongful conviction, usually with statistics on how often similar things have occurred across the country. Each story covers a different type of error that led to a wrongful conviction.

Even in the face of DNA evidence that should have exonerated some, prosecutorial and/or attorney misconduct did not save them from wrongful conviction. Eyewitness accounts are NOT always reliable; this has only fairly recently been demonstrated. The biggest contributors seemed to be pressure to solve a crime and, sometimes, preconceived notions, which led investigators to ignore, explain away, or bury exculpatory evidence and the lack of evidence linking the wrongfully charged with the crime.

Exoneration takes time. Many were not exonerated until their long sentences were almost over. It takes persistence of the convict in reaching out until someone listens. They face multiple denials of appeals and retrials. Once they are convicted, the system no longer treats them as innocent until proven guilty, which makes it harder to get heard. And our parole system usually PUNISHES them if they refuse to apologize for a crime they didn't commit, so they will be denied parole as unrehabilitated.

The selections were written by well known authors (including Arthur Miller). They are easy to read, in the sense that they are easy to understand and zip through, but not easy in the overwhelming picture presented. Based on statistics of exonerees, the estimate is that some 10% of those serving prison sentences may be innocent. With over 2 millions people in prison in this country, that means over 200,000 people may be doing time for crimes they did not commit. If you apply the same statistics to death row, the chances are very high that some innocent people have been executed.

Reconfirming my commitment to opposition to the death penalty.

I recommend this to anyone interested in justice reform.

[Killian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, that was completely terrifying. A collection of stories about people who were minding their own business when suddenly they are being tried and convicted of crimes they didn't commit. Spending years upon years in prison, having their entire life controlled down to the minuscule details and knowing the entire time that they shouldn't even be there. Yelling their innocence to the world with no one interested in listening. And let's be real, most of these tales are from young black males just going about their lives when they are all of a sudden picked out of a lineup. They don't really touch on this specific issue, but it's there in between the lines.

Caldwell has put together this collection of true stories of exonerees as interpreted by various authors. As a result there are various styles of storytelling, and that was the one glaring thing I didn't appreciate about the book. I believe she was going for gut-punches over actual explanations of the atrocities committed against these individuals which has it's own merits. For myself, I would have preferred more detailed, factual deep-dives but I know that's not what they were trying to do here. That being said, there were stories that had more depth in the post-chapter notes than in the story itself. The last one in particular does this, which was frustrating as a reader.

These stories are timely, horrifying, and a topic that everyone needs to be knowledgeable on. We all have a chance to sit on a jury that can decide the fates of similar people and truly understanding the impact of your decisions on that bench is important. However, this collection was only successful up to a point and I think more substance was needed in order to really drive their message home.

Copy courtesy of W. W. Norton & Company/Liveright via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[E M · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reviewing Jerome F. Buting's Illusion of Justice: Inside Making a Murderer and America's Broken System, I checked out the community's reviews (I always proceed in that order so that my review, whatever it's worth, is mine, and not influenced by those of the vast majority) and found that I was about 2 stars south of the opinions of what appeared to be every living human. Even those who, like me, had never seen the television show which the book was nominally about, thought it was terrific, and many, in praising it, commended its spotlighting of the ugly side of justice system.

So okay, if that's what you want, I suggest Anatomy of Innocence: Testimonies of the Wrongfully Convicted, edited by Laura Caldwell, which I think is in every way superior to the Buting book. Each of its 14 short chapters is a simple factual report written by a different person about his/her experience with wrongful conviction, long incarceration and eventual exoneration. Each account is narrated to a different professional writer, and the resulting collection is a well-written - and searing - indictment of the fearsome apparatus which passes for justice. This book is not merely better-written and more sharply focused than Illusion, the mosaic formed by its various real-life accounts is also more enlightening than a dramatic production (or a book about that production) could be. Must reading.

[Carissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVE and appreciate the innocence project. It's sad that so many people are in prison, on death row, or have even been executed based on NO evidence, forced false convictions (especially in Chicago!). This book deals with some of the most known cases and acts of injustice by the legal system. It amazes me at how people get convicted when there is clear evidence proving their innocence! It's believed that 10% of people in prison are innocent. No one- absolutely no one- is not at risk for being a victim of the justice system itself. The innocence project has freed 200 people to date, and that's taken years. Imagine how many are out there yet to be heard? What about those who have no solid proof such as DNA or witnesses coming forward, over-zealous cops being discovered for torturing innocent people into false confessions on a repeated basis just to solve a case? And the tragedy of years lost, sometimes these people being released on the corner down the street in filthy clothes and no compensation. It's a sad reality. Honest mistakes can be made for sure, but the horror of the corrupted part of the system going after someone without evidence, withholding evidence, forcing false confessions, throwing out DNA evidence, or flat out lying is something I can't comprehend ever doing to someone, but it's very common. These are the stories of some of the fortunate 200 out of millions who were eventually exonerated.

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a compilation of the true life stories of 15 men and women exonerated after many years or decades in prison for crimes they did not commit. The project of writing these stories (by mystery and crime writers) was brought about by the Innocence Project/Innocence Network. If being wrongfully accused and found guilty of a horrendous crime is one of your fears, don't read this book.

The American system of policing, justice and incarceration are a far cry from humane and just. I can empathize with the people who do these thankless jobs and the families of victims who want justice however, errors, ignorance, underfunded systems and bigotry lead to a system that can railroad the innocent and further entrench hatred in those that may someday be released back into society.

Just one example of our society's inane process was an article I just read regarding parents whose teenage son died of cancer. If the meager (and clearly biased against the parents) summary of the situation is even somewhat true, the system is looking at prosecuting the parents for child abuse because they tried to treat him themselves as they had no insurance and couldn't afford medical treatment. Instead of changing a system that forces families make these kinds of horrible decisions, the system believes that legally punishing the parents makes the most sense. Such are the stories in this book about a system out of whack and few people and resources to improve it.

[Vnunez-Ms_luv2read · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will take you through a variety of emotions; anger, happiness, disbelief. All the stories are of people incarcerated unjustly, with no actual evidence against them. It reads like a novel, as you cannot believe some of the things law enforcement did to charge someone with a crime that was obvious they did not commit.
These men and women in these stories had happy endings, if you can call it that after spending years in prison for something they did not do. They were able to have their innocent proven and was released. Some were given compensation for the years they were in prison, but really how can one put a price on that? It makes you wonder about the many others that are incarcerated unjustly and is still spending days, months, years in prison. I truly enjoyed the stories and the association that authors had with them. This was a really nice concept. This book is very enlightening and eye-opening. One bit of advice, have everything done before you start reading this book, because you will not want to stop. Thanks to NetGalley, the editors, and the publisher for granting me my wish to read this book in return for my honest review.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

We recently had the fortune of having co-editor Leslie Klinger and contributor Jan Burke show up to our bookstore-based book club in Manhattan Beach to discuss these harrowing yet uplifting accounts of the wrongfully convicted, most of whom spent decades in jail before their exoneration. Using crime fiction writers to tell these 15 stories was a brilliant idea, as these writers know how to both grab our attention and how to make us feel like we have shared in these individuals' experiences.

Almost more shocking than their wrongful convictions (which is an unintended consequence of an inevitably imperfect system), is how little is done to help exonerees with their return to society. One exoneree is simply thrown on the street after choosing something to wear out of a pile of smelly confiscated clothing and is not even given money for bus fare. That's why you can feel good about buying this book. The authors and editors donated their time to this project, and proceeds go to the Loyola Chicago Law School's Life After Innocence project.

[Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a sad, but very important book about people who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes and served many years, but were totally innocent. This should not happen. Even worse, this did not happen because of honest mistakes made by law enforcement, attorneys, or the judicial system. In virtually every case it happened because of intentionally unethical behavior by those responsible. The police were under pressure to charge someone. Racism played a big part in many cases. Important evidence was ignored. Some attorneys were inexperienced or incompetent. In one case evidence proving a man's innocence was available but could not be reported for many years due to attorney-client privilege. There are over 150 free men in this country who used to be on death row for a crime they didn't commit. There may be as many as 250,000 innocent people serving time in the USA. And some people say this is the greatest country in the world.

[Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an eye opening book. It is compiled of 15 short essay-like true stories, told by an exonerated person, written by a mystery writer followed by related data and statistics compiled by the editors. You can find elements of yourself within all the wrongly convicted. When you see some of the clear evidence of innocence of some of these people ignored, you can see "beyond a reasonable doubt" is not always upheld as the standard for convictions. If these are the lucky ones, it is hard to imagine those in similar circumstances who never get their day in court to correct mistakes made. This is a short book, but not an "easy" read due to the subject matter. The book does not touch on the death penalty at all (except in the foreword), but it may challenge your beliefs on that subject depending where your beliefs currently lie. This is well worth the read!

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a compilation of stories about normal people accused and convicted of horrific crimes that they did not commit. Some of these people spent decades behind bars in some of the mort brutal prisons in our country simply because the police and lawyers did not do their jobs. If anyone believes that these things could not happen in our country, pick up this book because it will scare you to see how easily it could happen to anyone! Kudos to all those who fight to cure these wrongs, but more must be done. No one should have to endure such suffering, especially those who are innocent!

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of 15 people wrongly convicted. It's filled with triumphs and tragedies. It scared me, to think that we live in America and people get railroaded into confessing. Some get told lies by the police. Some prosecutors hide evidence. Some judges refuse to look at the case again, because they don't want to admit they were wrong. Luckily, there are Innocent Projects out there trying to fix these wrongs.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This anthology of 14 stories of Exonerees is very moving. The wrongful convictions and how very long it takes to overturn is astounding. Motivated to read this when I heard my best friend's cousin, Laura Caldwell, recently passed away, and I learned of her writing. May we all be compassionate, open-minded, and willing to help others. Highly recommend this book for those interested in biography, crime, justice, and good writing.

[Alyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fabulous concept- Fourteen established mystery and thriller writers each get a chapter to tell the story of an exonerated inmate. An additional chapter contains a previously unpublished article by Arthur Miller.
Exciting, upsetting, suspenseful, maddening, this is an important book that everyone in this country must read.

[Lauryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a awesome book. I read this book in a day and a half. I am currently a criminal justice major and this put a whole new aspect to my studies I have never thought of that much. Everyone says this happens, but you never think it really does until you read a book like this. I can not wait to read other books by Laura Caldwell.

[Saisha Sandoz · Rating 5 out of 5]

at first I was a bit put off by the shortness of each story, but the more I read the more I enjoyed the different aspects of each story. I had heard many of the stories, but a few were new which is always interesting. I highly recommend this book!!

[Michael Kitchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful book about the men and women who were wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. How often do the police and prosecutors 'fix the facts' to force the closure of a case with a conviction? It should make you wonder.

[Sue Vansandt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book opened my eyes and changed my viewpoint on many points. Before reading this book I assumed that if somebody were brought before a grand jury they were most likely guilty. I now realize what a burden it is to be on a jury and decide a case.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Mayra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book! A must read for 2017. All of the testimonies are heart wrenching and really makes you think about how just is the justice system.