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 ama​zon​.com review; DPIC post­ed Feb. 9, 2015). See Books and Innocence.

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