Anatomy of Innocence: Testimonies of the Wrongfully Convicted - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1631490885 ISBN 13: 9781631490880

Publisher: Liveright, 2017

Synopsis

Recalling the great muckrakers of the past, an outraged team of America’s best-selling writers unite to confront the disasters of wrongful convictions.

Wrongful convictions, long regarded as statistical anomalies in an otherwise sound justice system, now appear with frightening regularity. But few people understand just how or why they happen and, more important, the immeasurable consequences that often haunt the lucky few who are acquitted, years after they are proven innocent.

Now, in this groundbreaking anthology, fourteen exonerated inmates narrate their stories to a roster of high-profile mystery and thriller writers―including Lee Child, Sara Paretsky, Laurie R. King, Jan Burke and S. J. Rozan―while another exoneree’s case is explored in a previously unpublished essay by legendary playwright Arthur Miller. An astonishing and unique collaboration, these testimonies bear witness to the incredible stories of innocent men and women who were convicted of serious crimes and cast into the maw of a vast and deeply flawed American criminal justice system before eventually, and miraculously, being exonerated.

Introduced by best-selling authors Scott Turow and Barry Scheck, these master storytellers capture the tragedy of wrongful convictions as never before and challenge readers to confront the limitations and harsh realities of the American criminal justice system. Lee Child tells of Kirk Bloodsworth, who obsessively read about the burgeoning field of DNA testing, cautiously hoping that it held the key to his acquittal―until he eventually became the first person to be exonerated from death row based on DNA evidence. Judge John Sheldon and author Gayle Lynds team up to share Audrey Edmunds’s experience raising her children long distance from her prison cell. And exoneree Gloria Killian recounts to S. J. Rozan her journey from that fateful "knock on the door" and the initial shock of accusation to the scars she carries today.

Together, the powerful stories collected within the Anatomy of Innocence detail every aspect of the experience of wrongful conviction, as well as the remarkable depths of endurance sustained by each exoneree who never lost hope.

24 photographs

About this title

About the Author:

Laura Caldwell is the award-winning founder/director of Life After Innocence at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and the author of fourteen novels, including the Izzy McNeil series, as well as Long Way Home. She lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Leslie S. Klinger is the editor of numerous books, including the best-selling The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, The New Annotated Dracula, and The New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft. He lives in Malibu, California.

From School Library Journal:

A collection of first-person accounts from individuals who were wrongfully arrested and convicted. Told to mystery and true crime writers such as Lee Child, Sara Paretsky, and Jan Burke, these stories highlight the defects in the police, investigative, and legal system that lead to the prosecution and incarceration of innocent people. Themes such as false confessions, mishandled evidence, and, in highly publicized cases, the desire to quickly finger a suspect rather than find the actual criminal run through the work. Each chapter describes a case (for instance, in 1973, Peter Reilly was arrested for allegedly killing his mother), explains how the individual was exonerated, provides background on the author, and features an editors' note with statistics on false convictions. The brutal reality of police torture and prison life is addressed matter-of-factly. Information on the Innocence Project and member groups by state is appended. Black-and-white photographs of the people profiled are included, along with an update on their lives since exoneration. VERDICT A valuable resource for students interested in the legal system and social justice.—Tamara Saarinen, Pierce County Library, WA

About this edition

• Publisher: Liveright
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1631490885
• ISBN 13: 9781631490880
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304
• Editor: Caldwell Laura, Klinger Leslie S.