• Presumed Guilty

  • How the Supreme Court Empowered the Police and Subverted Civil Rights
  • By: Erwin Chemerinsky
  • Narrated by: Perry Daniels
  • Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (32 ratings)

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
Presumed Guilty  By  cover art

Presumed Guilty

By: Erwin Chemerinsky
Narrated by: Perry Daniels
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.49

Buy for $21.49

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Library Journal - "Books and Authors to Know: Titles to Watch 2021"

Presumed Guilty reveals how the Supreme Court allows the perpetuation of racist policing by presuming that suspects, especially people of color, are guilty.

Presumed Guilty, like the best-selling The Color of Law, is a "smoking gun" of civil rights research, a troubling history that reveals how the Supreme Court enabled racist policing and sanctioned law enforcement excesses. The fact that police are nine times more likely to kill Black men than other Americans is no accident; it is the result of an elaborate body of doctrines that allow the police and courts to presume that suspects are guilty before being charged.

Demonstrating how the prodefendant Warren Court was a brief historical aberration, Erwin Chemerinsky shows how this more liberal era ended with Nixon's presidency and the ascendance of conservative justices, whose rulings have permitted stops and frisks, limited suits to reform police departments, and even abetted the use of chokeholds. Presumed Guilty concludes that an approach to policing that continues to exalt "Dirty Harry" can be transformed only by a robust court system committed to civil rights.

©2021 Erwin Chemerinsky (P)2021 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Love Books? You'll Love Audible.

Placeholder Image Alt Text

Transform your day

Replace endless scrolling with endless listening. Chores can be fun.

Placeholder Image Alt Text

Listen everywhere

Download titles to listen offline, wherever you are in the world.

Placeholder Image Alt Text

Carry your entire Library

Your stories go where you go. Audiobooks don’t weigh a thing.

Placeholder Image Alt Text

Listen and learn

Discover stories that can change your mind, your well-being, and your life.

Placeholder Image Alt Text

Reach your reading goals

You can’t turn pages while you drive—but you can press play.

Placeholder Image Alt Text

Find your niche

WIth thousands of titles to explore, there’s something for everyone.

Try for $0.00 $14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

What listeners say about Presumed Guilty

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    21
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    23
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    22
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Required Reading

This book should be required reading for every single federal judge on the bench, and for everyone in public safety.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

good question how do you show prof that a officer can choke you again in the future?

I loved it this was the first book make me sit back and say hmmmmmm.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Hire Dave Chapelle to reread this with empathy

ABSOLUTELY RIVETING historical account that explains so much of how and why we got to where we are today, ruined by conservative courts that give police too much power. But the narrator is distilled into some robot vanilla, might as well be a bot voice. I don't know why I bother with audiobooks that aren't author narrated with emotion and empathy. Or just hire Dave Chapelle to speak it with grit and power and adlib some funny bits as a collab.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A well-written and read description of problems in the police and court systems

I would recommend this text to anyone who wants to understand the problems and prejudices existent in our legal systems in America. The work is both well written and performed, and I found that it offered a complete explanation of how our nation fails to recognize the challenges of race, class, and sex within the police investigations and how these are carried into the judicial system itself.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

One-sided Liberal Critique

This story cites examples of desperate outcomes without explaining any causes other than racism.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!