Charged : the new movement to transform American prosecution and end mass incarceration / Emily Bazelon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bazelon, Emily, author.

Contributor:

EBSCOhost.

Lipman Criminology Library Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Prosecution--United States--Decision making.

Prosecution.

Criminal justice, Administration of--Corrupt practices.

Criminal justice, Administration of.

Prosecutorial misconduct.

United States.

Decision making.

Prosecutorial misconduct--United States.

Public prosecutors--United States.

Public prosecutors.

Sentences (Criminal procedure)--United States.

Sentences (Criminal procedure).

Imprisonment--United States.

Imprisonment.

Criminal justice, Administration of--Corrupt practices--United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxxi, 409 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Random House, [2019]

System Details:

text file

Summary:

A renowned journalist and legal commentator exposes the unchecked power of the prosecutor as a driving force in America's mass incarceration crisis--and charts a way out. The American criminal justice system is supposed to be a contest between two equal adversaries, the prosecution and the defense, with judges ensuring a fair fight. That image does not match the reality in the courtroom, however. Much of the time, it is prosecutors more than judges who control the outcome of a case. They answer to almost no one and make most of the key decisions, from choosing the charge to setting bail to determining the plea bargain. They often decide who goes free and who goes to prison, even who lives and who dies. The system wasn't designed for this kind of unchecked power, and in Charged, Emily Bazelon reveals how it is the underreported cause of enormous injustice--and the missing piece in the mass incarceration puzzle. Charged follows the story of two young people caught up in the criminal justice system: Kevin, a twenty-year-old in Brooklyn who picked up his friend's gun as the cops burst in and was charged with a serious violent felony, and Noura, a teenage girl in Memphis indicted for the murder of her mother. Bazelon tracks both cases, exploring every phase of the criminal justice process--from arrest and charging to trial and sentencing--and, with her trademark blend of narrative, legal analysis, and investigative journalism, illustrates just how criminal prosecutions can go wrong and, more important, why they don't have to. Bazelon shows how prosecution in America is at a crossroads and details the damage overzealous prosecutors can do--and also the second chances they can extend, if they choose, to the likes of Kevin and Noura and so many others, allowing them to make things right in their own lives. She follows a wave of reform-minded D.A.s who have been elected in some of our biggest cities, as well as in rural areas in every region of the country, put in office to do nothing less than reinvent how their job is done. If they succeed, they can point the country toward a different and profoundly better future. In Charged, Emily Bazelon mounts a major critique of the American criminal justice system--and tells the story of the movement for change.

Contents:

Part I. The power of the charge. Charge ; The hearing ; Bail ; Gun court ; Elections ; Trial ; The guilty plea ; The new D.A.s

Part II: The quality of mercy. The appeal ; Diversion ; The Alford plea ; The dismissal ; The ethics trial ; Reform

Appendix: Twenty-one principles for twenty-first-century prosecutors.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [337]-391) and index.

Electronic reproduction. Ipswich, MA Available via World Wide Web.

Description based on print version record.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Lipman Criminology Library Fund.

ISBN:

9780399590023

0399590021

Publisher Number:

99983981414

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.