Criminal Justice System

Electronic monitoring. Locked-down drug treatment centers. House arrest. Mandated psychiatric treatment. Data-driven surveillance. Extended probation. These are some of the key alternatives held up as cost-effective substitutes for jails and prisons. But many of these so-called reforms actually widen the net, weaving in new strands of punishment and control, and bringing new populations, who would not otherwise have been subject to imprisonment, under physical control by the state.

A former public defender takes us behind the closed doors of America's criminal courts, revealing how the institutions that claim to protect us are doing the exact opposite—and offering a blueprint for finally fixing it. “A searing, compassionate, and utterly necessary book that pulls back...

One of America's leading appeal lawyers, Alan Dershowitz, examines the American criminal justice system, critically analyzing its strengths and weaknesses. Using the O.J. Simpson murder case as the backdrop, Reasonable Doubts explores the larger issues that shape our country's legal system...

New York Times bestselling author Linda Fairstein takes you behind the scenes of New York City's theater world—from Lincoln Center to the lights of Broadway—in a riveting novel, rich with her trademark blend of cutting-edge legal issues, skillful detective work, and heart-stopping suspense...

THE TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Could the courts really order the death of your innocent baby? Was there an illegal immigrant who couldn't be deported because he had a pet cat? Are unelected judges truly enemies of the people? Most of us think the law is only relevant to criminals, if we...

Courtroom 302 is the fascinating story of one year in Chicago's Cook County Criminal Courthouse, the busiest felony courthouse in the country. Here we see the system through the eyes of the men and women who experience it, not only in the courtroom but in the lockup, the jury room, the judge's chambers, the spectators' gallery. From the daily grind of the court to the highest-profile case of the year, Steve Bogira's masterful investigation raises fundamental issues of race, civil rights, and justice in America.

When The New Press, the Center for American Progress, and the Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted Peoples and Family Movement issued a call for innovative reform ideas, over 300 currently and formerly incarcerated individuals responded. What We Know collects two dozen of their best suggestions, each of which proposes a policy solution derived from their own lived experience.

On December 6, 1993, a drug dealer called Scrappy is shot and left for dead on the lawn outside her mother’s house in South Central Los Angeles. Augie, a heroin addict, witnesses the whole thing - before he steals all the drugs on her person as well as the gun that was dropped at the scene. When Augie gets busted, he names local gang members Wizard and Dreamer the shooters. But only one of them is guilty.

PRE-ORDER NOW! 'Superbly written… The plot twists and turns on the way to a nail-biting finale. A compelling read' The Sun ‘The eponymous young adult Ben is drawn with unflinching honesty by a writer with a masterful grasp of nuance and contradiction’ The Guardian 'Sad, chilling and...

A Daily Telegraph and BBC History Magazine Book of the Year 'Popular history at its best' Spectator 'Boisterous… replete with stabbings, bashing and thumping' Daily Mail 'A cocktail of brutal, tragic, and fascinating true crime from the era of the Tudors and Stuarts. This dark history at its...

The US has the largest criminal justice system in the world. Because they spend enough time in prison to disrupt their connections to their families and their communities, they are not prepared for the difficult and often life-threatening process of reentry. As a result, the percentage of these people who return to a life of crime and additional prison time escalates each year. Beyond Bars is the most current, practical, and comprehensive guide for ex-convicts and their families about managing a successful reentry into the community.

A riveting, artfully written memoir of a lawyer's life as he races to prevent death row inmates from being executed. Near the beginning of The Autobiography of an Execution, David Dow lays his cards on the table. "People think that because I am against the death penalty and don't think people...

This groundbreaking work takes readers deep into the world of police oversight and reveals what really happens when everyday people try to hold the police accountable. When you think about the police, who do you think of: Do you think of one officer, or the police as an institution? From movies...

A personable, story-driven explanation of how the systems around us—where we live, work, learn, and connect—shape our health, and how each of us can help create healthier communities. A powerful blend of deeply human stories and rigorous research, The Collective Cure reveals how social and...

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.

Hidden Behind the Robe is a tapestry of stranger-than-fiction scenes, observed over Matt Graham’s 43-year career in the criminal justice system. The story traverses the unexplored and overlooked inner workings of the raunchy, salacious, often hilarious, behind-the-scenes happenings of Los Angeles justice. Combining issues of privilege, race, and sexual misconduct, Hidden Behind the Robe provides a raw, behind-the-scenes perspective, and insight into the legal system that could only have been written by a Judge who has seen it all.

Deciding if a prisoner should stay in prison or be released is no mean feat. Enter the fascinating world of the parole board with Rob McKeon of BBC’s Parole. …You don’t know what you don’t know. How can you predict the future when you don’t know what you don’t know? Rob McKeon is a...

How states are making their legal systems more equitable, seen through the story of a Black man falsely imprisoned for thirty years for murder. In 1987, Ben Spencer, a twenty-two-year-old Black man from Dallas, was convicted of murdering white businessman Jeffrey Young—a crime he didn’t...

A former parole officer shines a bright light on a huge yet hidden part of our justice system through the intertwining stories of seven parolees striving to survive the chaos that awaits them after prison in this illuminating and dramatic book. Prompted by a dead-end retail job and a vague...

An insider’s account of the infamous Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal which scapegoated black employees for problems caused by an education reform movement that is increasingly a proxy for corporate greed. In March of 2013, thirty-five black educators in Atlanta Public Schools were...