Race and justice : wrongful convictions of African American men / Marvin D. Free, Jr., Mitch Ruesink.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Free, Marvin D., author.

Ruesink, Mitch, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Discrimination in criminal justice administration--United States.

Discrimination in criminal justice administration.

Judicial error--United States.

Judicial error.

African American criminals.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (344 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Boulder, Colorado : Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this investigation of some 350 wrongful convictions of African American men, Marvin Free and Mitch Ruesink critically examine how issues of race undercut the larger goals of our criminal justice system. Free and Ruesink expand the focus of wrongful conviction studies to include not only homicide, but also sexual assault, drug dealing, and nonviolent crime. Their careful analysis reveals that black men accused of crimes against white victims account for a disproportionate number of wrongful convictions. They also uncover other disturbing failings on the part of prosecutors, police, witnesses, and informants. Highlighting the systemic role of race, the authors challenge us to move past the "just a few bad apples" explanation and to instead examine what it is about our criminal justice system that allows the innocent to be judged guilty.

Contents:

""Book Title""; ""Table of Contents""; ""List of Tables""; ""2.1 List of Known Wrongfully Convicted African American Men by State, 1970�2008""; ""2.2 Descriptive Statistics of Sample of Wrongfully Convicted African American Men""; ""3.1 Factors in Wrongful Convictions in Murder and Attempted Murder Cases""; ""3.2 Victim and Case Characteristics in Murder and Attempted Murder Cases""; ""4.1 Factors in Wrongful Convictions in Rape and Sexual Assault Cases""; ""4.2 Victim and Case Characteristics in Rape and Sexual Assault Cases""; ""5.1 Individuals Involved in the Tulia Sting""

""5.2 Mansfield, Ohio, Drug Bust""""6.1 Factors in Wrongful Convictions in Robbery Cases""; ""6.2 Victim and Case Characteristics in Robbery Cases""; ""6.3 Summary of Wrongful Convictions in Miscellaneous Cases""; ""Preface""; ""1-Wrongful Convictionsin the United States""; ""A Selective Overview of the Study of Wrongful Convictions""; ""Estimating the Prevalence and Incidence of Wrongful Convictions""; ""Criminal Justice System Factors Associated with the Conviction of Innocents""; ""Wrongful Convictions and African Americans""; ""Why This Study Focuses on African American Men""

""Focus and Scope of the Book""""Notes""; ""2-Meet the Wrongfully Convicted""; ""Locating the Cases""; ""Identification and Categorization of Variables Associated with Wrongful Conviction""; ""The Sample""; ""Witness Error and the Conviction of Innocents""; ""Police Misconduct and the Conviction of Innocents""; ""Prosecutorial Misconduct and the Conviction of Innocents""; ""False Confessions and the Conviction of Innocents""; ""Informants/Snitches and the Conviction of Innocents""; ""Forensic Errors and the Conviction of Innocents""

""Perjury by Criminal Justice Officials, Insufficient Evidence, and the Conviction of Innocents""""Conclusion""; ""Notes""; ""3-Murder and Attempted Murder""; ""Witness Error in Wrongful Murder Convictions""; ""Police and Prosecutorial Misconduct in Wrongful Murder Convictions""; ""Use of Informants/Snitches in Wrongful Murder Convictions""; ""False Confessions in Wrongful Murder Convictions""; ""Ineffective Assistance of Counsel in Wrongful Murder Convictions""; ""Forensic Errors in Wrongful Murder Convictions""; ""Victim Characteristics and Wrongful Murder Convictions""

""Other Case Characteristics""""Conclusion""; ""Notes""; ""4-Rape and Sexual Assault""; ""Cases in Which Witness Error Was the Primary Cause of the Wrongful Conviction""; ""Cases in Which Witness Error Was One of the Factors in the Wrongful Conviction""; ""Cases in Which Witness Error Was Not a Contributing Factor to the Wrongful Conviction""; ""Victim Characteristics and Wrongful Rape/Sexual Assault Convictions""; ""Conclusion""; ""Notes""; ""5-Drug Offenses""; ""Opium and the Chinese: The Beginning of Drug Prohibition""; ""Cocaine and African Americans During the Early Twentieth Century""

""Marijuana and Mexican Immigrants""

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-58826-917-5

OCLC:

929119599