Criminal Justice System

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.

Unlock the intricacies of modern law enforcement with "The Criminal Justice System," a comprehensive guide that delves into every facet of policing today. This indispensable eBook takes you on a detailed journey through the roles, challenges, and evolving paradigms that shape law enforcement across the globe. Begin with a rich historical backdrop and see how policing has transformed through various modern models. Understand the critical Constitutional protections that officers must navigate daily. Whether you are an aspiring police officer or simply passionate about criminal justice, our ...

Unlock the complexities of the justice system with Theories of Punishment, an insightful and comprehensive eBook that navigates the myriad philosophies and practicalities behind punitive measures. Delve deep into the historical development and fundamental principles shaping how societies understand and administer justice. Begin your journey with an illuminating introduction that sets the stage, offering clarity on the essential role punishment plays in maintaining social order. Discover the philosophical and moral foundations of retribution, exploring its legal frameworks and its place in ...

More people than ever are getting arrested - usually for petty offenses against laws that rarely used to be enforced. This eye-opening book tells you everything you need to know about how cops operate, the little things that can get you in trouble, and how to stay free from the hungry jaws of the criminal justice system. It is now updated with new and important information on the right of the police to search your car; on guns, knives, and self-defense; and on changes in surveillance methods.

Jesus told his followers that the entirety of the Old Testament’s law is encapsulated in the commands to love God and to love their neighbors as themselves. In Reforming Criminal Justice: A Christian Proposal, Matthew T. Martens argues that love of neighbor must be the animating force for true reformation of the criminal justice system, obligating us to seek the best for both the criminally victimized and the criminally accused.

From Pulitzer Prize–winning author Gilbert King comes a chilling exploration of one of America’s most haunting wrongful conviction cases. Based on the hit podcast, Bone Valley dives into the dark heart of rural Florida, where a young man’s life was upended by a tragic miscarriage of...

Powell and Silverglate shine a light on the defects of the federal criminal-justice system: overzealous prosecutors, perjury traps, negligent judges, perverse limits on self-defense, vague and overabundant criminal statutes, insufficient requirements for criminal intent, and no accountability for prosecutors. Most important, they provide a much-needed blueprint for reforming the Department of Justice and the criminal-justice system, including actions an average citizen can take to help restore justice.

The sad truth is that the US criminal justice system doesn’t work for many different reasons - from our overflowing prisons, to the destructive war on drugs and disproportionate effect on minority communities, to conflicts between police and citizens and problems with prosecutors and the courts. In Fixing the US Criminal Justice System, author Paul Brakke provides an in-depth look from a conservative perspective at the many flaws in the system and how to fix them.

Criminal Trial Lawyer… Memoirs of Managing Chaos and embracing it. The book, sometimes humorously, describes my memoirs and adventures as a successful criminal trial lawyer both as Prosecutor and Defense Counsel. It begins as a child and explains the influences which made me a criminal trial lawyer driven by my desire to serve The Lady of Justice, Justicia. I fell in love with her and lived a Samurai of Justice love story. Beginning with a Trial Lawyers philosophy, I describe the entire chaotic thinking and acting process from meeting the client and trial preparation, through actual ...

The United States incarcerates more of its residents than any other nation. Though home to five percent of the global population, the United States has nearly 25 percent of the world’s prisoners - a total of over two million people. This number continues to steadily rise. Over the past 40 years, the number of people behind bars in the United States has increased by 500 percent.

America’s criminal justice system perpetuates profound social and racial harms. But despite growing recognition of its destructiveness, the vast machinery of the carceral state remains very much intact. How can its damage be undone? In this pathbreaking reader, three of the nation’s leading advocates for change provide us with tools to move from critique to action and from despair to hope. Dismantling Mass Incarceration surveys various approaches to confronting the carceral state, exploring a wide range of bold but practical interventions.

The California Dream is a beautiful lie. Beneath the sun-drenched beaches, rolling vineyards, and idyllic suburbs lies a shadow world of shocking violence and haunting secrets. For decades, predators have stalked these golden landscapes, leaving a trail of baffled investigators and grieving families in their wake. Some got away for years, others for a lifetime. Murder Land: California rips the facade off the postcard image to expose twenty of the state's most chilling and complex criminal cases. This meticulously researched collection takes you inside the crime scenes, behind the yellow ...

In June 1985, a young Black man named Darryl Hunt was falsely convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a white copyeditor at the local paper. Many in the community believed him innocent and crusaded for his release even as subsequent trials and appeals reinforced his sentence. Finally, in 2003, the tireless efforts of his attorney combined with an award-winning series of articles by Phoebe Zerwick in the Winston-Salem Journal led to the DNA evidence that exonerated Hunt.

This Handbook is designed for both prosecutors and defense counsel alike as well as anyone interested in the prosecutor’s role sand functions. Its modest goal is to eradicate what is called “prosecutor misconduct”. While this Handbook may serve as a guidebook for prosecutors, it also arms defense counsel with information that can be used to ensure that their clients receive a fair trial. An example of how the Handbook simultaneously guides prosecutors and arms defense counsel is that it spells out what a prosecutor is prohibited by law and ethical rules from saying in trial. By ...

Alan Dershowitz, one of the foremost legal thinkers of our time, explores a series of questions raised by the most-watched criminal trial in American history. Through this brilliant, eye-opening account of the O.J. Simpson case, he exposes the realities of the criminal justice system of this country.

Here, Professor Dershowitz examines the issues and social forces -- media, money, gender, and race -- that shape the criminal justice system in America today.

"Copaganda" is a special kind of propaganda employed by police, prosecutors, and news media. It stokes fear of police-recorded crime and distorts society’s responses to it. As the United States incarcerates five times more people per capita than it did in 1970—despite record low crime rates—a sprawling and profitable punishment bureaucracy spends a lot of time and money to manipulate what we think that bureaucracy does and why.

From failed political leadership to media-driven narratives, The Great Divider and Chief exposes how America’s trust in law enforcement was shattered—and who truly bears the blame. Drawing on more than 27 years of law enforcement leadership and firsthand experience, Keith Grounsell examines the rise of anti-police movements, the mental health crisis among officers, the collapse of recruitment, and the dangerous disconnect between public expectations and political realities. Spanning over 40 deeply investigative chapters, this book is not just an exposé—it’s a roadmap for restoring ...

In the parched landscape of Alice Springs, where unforgiving heat intensifies every human emotion, Detective Senior Constable Sarah Reeves is called to a motel room where a man lies dead from a point-blank shotgun blast. What begins as a seemingly random shooting rapidly escalates into a killing spree. The killer, Curtis Langford, is hunting for pieces of his missing prison cellmate, convinced that innocent victims have "absorbed" parts of his friend. When bodies begin appearing across town, Sarah must navigate the brutal mechanics of tracking a delusional killer and the failures that ...

Justine Morgan’s life takes a dark and unexpected turn when she is swept into her boyfriend’s criminal underworld and thrust into the labyrinth of the penal system. What begins as an infatuation with Carl Davis, a charismatic yet mysterious classmate, quickly spirals into a nightmare that leaves her facing an armed robbery charge. Despite her protests of innocence and her privileged, sheltered upbringing, Justine gambles on a jury trial—only to lose, resulting in a five-year sentence with no parole. Inside the cold, unforgiving walls of the state prison, Justine is stripped of ...

In the past thirty years alone, more than 2,800 innocent American prisoners—their combined sentences surpassing 25,000 years—have been exonerated and freed after being condemned for crimes they did not commit. Terrifyingly, this number represents only a fraction of the actual number of persons wrongfully accused and convicted over the same period.