Alan Dershowitz, one of the foremost legal thinkers of our time, explores a series of questions raised by the most-watched criminal trial in American history. Through this brilliant, eye-opening account of the O.J. Simpson case, he exposes the realities of the criminal justice system of this country.
Here, Professor Dershowitz examines the issues and social forces -- media, money, gender, and race -- that shape the criminal justice system in America today. Among the fascinating questions raised:
- Was this really a case of circumstantial evidence?
- Did Simpson's wealth "buy" the acquittal?
- How could one of the longest trials in the history of America's judicial system produce a verdict after less than four hours of jury deliberation?
Reasonable Doubts is a work of lasting importance; it will force us to rethink our assumptions, not only about the case itself but about the strengths -- and weaknesses -- of the criminal justice system in America today.
This book is for the many thoughtful observers who sincerely and understandably believe that O.J. Simpson murdered Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman, and that the jury's verdict of Not Guilty was therefore a miscarriage of justice...
Alan M. Dershowitz is the bestselling author of Chutzpah, Reversal of Fortune, The Best Defense, and many other books. He was first in his class at Yale Law School, and was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. After clerking for Judge David Bazelton and Justice Arthur Goldberg, he was appointed to the Harvard Law faculty, where he became a full professor at age twenty-eight, the youngest in the school's history. Newsweek has described him as "the nation's most peripatetic civil liberties lawyer and one of its most distinguished defenders of individual rights." Professor Dershowitz has served on the National Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union and as consultant for various foundations and presidential commissions. His clients have included Claus von Bulow, Patricia Hearst, Senator Mike Gravel, Harry Reems, Anatoly Scharansky, F. Lee Bailey, William Kuntzler, and several death row inmates. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
