BOOKS: Execution’s Doorstep: True Stories of the Innocent and Near Damned

In her new book, Execution’s Doorstep: The True Stories of the Innocent and Near Damned, author Leslie Lytle provides a compelling narrative recounting the harrowing journeys of five innocent men who spent many years on death row. Through extensive research and interviews, Lytle has succeeded in revealing the deep pain and suffering that such injustice yields, putting a human face to the recurring problem of innocence on death row. The book explores all aspects of the cases, from the crime and the trials to the time spent on death row and the difficult struggle to adjust to life outside of a maximum security prison. Through the stories of these five men, Lytle provides readers with a penetrating look at America’s criminal justice and capital punishment systems, showing their fallibility.

Leslie Lytle is the Executive Director of the Cumberland Center for Justice and Peace. (Northeastern Univ. Press 2008). To date, 130 men and women have been exonerated from death row since 1973. See Innocence and Books.