BOOKS: ​“Examining Wrongful Convictions”

A new book, Examining Wrongful Convictions: Stepping Back, Moving Forward, explores the causes and related issues behind the many wrongful convictions in the U.S. Compiled and edited by four criminal justice professors from the State University of New York, the text draws from U.S. and international sources. Prof. Dan Simon of the University of Southern California said, ”This book offers the most comprehensive and insightful treatment of wrongful convictions to date,” noting that it delves into topics such as the wars on drugs and crime, the culture of punitiveness, and racial animus, as they relate to mistakes in the justice system. The editors note that, “[The] essential premise of this book is that much of value can be learned by ‘stepping back’ from the traditional focus on the direct or immediate causes and consequences of wrongful convictions,” with the hope of moving forward by “probing for the root causes of miscarriages of justice.”

The book is edited by Allison Redlich, James Acker, Robert Norris, and Catherine Bonventre, criminal justice faculty members at the University of Albany, SUNY.

(A. Redlich, et al., “Examining Wrongful Convictions: Stepping Back, Moving Forward” (Carolina Academic Press, July, 2014); quote from amazon.com review; DPIC posted Feb. 9, 2015). See Books and Innocence.