Justice and Science: Trials and Triumphs of DNA Evidence - Hardcover

George (Woody) Clarke

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0813541921 ISBN 13: 9780813541921

Publisher: Rutgers University Press, 2007

Synopsis

Databases of both convicted offenders and no-suspect cases demonstrate the power of DNA testing to solve the unsolvable. George “Woody” Clarke is a leading authority in legal circles and among the news media because of his expertise in DNA evidence. In this memoir, Clarke chronicles his experiences in some of the most disturbing and notorious sexual assault and murder court cases in California. He charts the beginnings of DNA testing in police investigations and the fight for its acceptance by courts and juries. He illustrates the power of science in cases he personally prosecuted or in which he assisted, including his work with the prosecution team in the trial of O. J. Simpson.

Clarke also covers cases where DNA evidence was used to exonerate. He directed a special project in San Diego County, proactively examining over six hundred cases of defendants convicted and sentenced to prison before 1993, with the goal of finding instances in which DNA typing might add new evidence and then offered testing to those inmates.

As Clarke tells the story of how he came to understand and use this new form of evidence, readers will develop a new appreciation for the role of science in the legal system.

About this title

About the Author

George “Woody” Clarke served as a prosecutor in the San Diego district attorney’s office from 1982 to 2003. He has appeared frequently on national television, he has co-starred on America’s Most Wanted with host John Walsh, and he lectures internationally on forensic DNA evidence. For the past three years he has been a judge of the Superior Court in San Diego County.

Reviews

Starred Review. From his work as part of the prosecution in the 1995 O.J. Simpson murder trial to his star billing on TV's America's Most Wanted, former San Diego prosecutor Clarke has been party to some of the justice system's most visible, controversial and melodramatic moments. He puts that populist knack to work in this nonfiction page turner that should appeal just as much to true crime buffs as those concerned with the workings of the criminal justice system. Now a leading world expert on the use of DNA in establishing probable guilt or innocence, Clarke describes himself as an unlikely pioneer; after avoiding science in college, one of his early assignments as a legal researcher was to defend the admissibility of DNA typing in a rape case. Helpfully, his sketchy science background allowed him, once he had mastered the material, to make a presentation that's easily understandable by judges and juries, as well as readers. Full of suspenseful true-crime accounts tracing the capture and conviction of murders and rapists, as well as the successful exoneration of the wrongly convicted, this title has real best-seller potential.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0813541921
• ISBN 13: 9780813541921
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 216