False Justice: Eight Myths That Convict the Innocent

Former Ohio Attorney General crusades against wrongful conviction and shows how citizens can prevent this terrifyingly common miscarriage of justice.

“Wrongful criminal conviction is much more frequent than most Americans believe. The thought of imprisoned innocent people haunted me. I became determined to try to do something about it.”  - Jim Petro, Former Attorney General of Ohio

The flaws in America’s execution of justice lead to an unacceptable number of wrongful criminal convictions. Jim Petro was confronted with this issue when the guilt of several convicts serving life sentences was called into question. In False Justice, Jim and Nancy Petro detail and challenge eight myths of justice:

1. “Everyone in prison claims innocence.”
2. “Our system almost never convicts an innocent person.”
3. “Only the guilty confess.”
4. “Wrongful convictions are caused by innocent human error.”
5. “An eyewitness is the best testimony.”
6. “Conviction errors get corrected on appeal.”
7. “It dishonors the victim to question a conviction.”
8. “If the justice system has problems, the pros will fix them.”

False Justice corrects these common misunderstandings with an important truth: true justice requires constant vigilance and is the responsibility every citizen.

Jim Petro is a former Republican Attorney General of Ohio. Throughout his 35-year career as an attorney and 28-year career as an elected public office holder, he has been publicly committed to strong law-and-order platforms. As Ohio Auditor of State, he and his team cleaned up a corrupt office and performed audits that led to the criminal conviction of an unprecedented 110 public officials in Ohio. His tenure as Attorney General was marked by a nation-leading effort that added 210,000 DNA profiles from Ohio felons and misdemeanants to the national DNA Codis database. This effort resulted in the immediate solving of dozens of cold cases, hundreds over the ensuing months and years.

Nancy Petro has 35 years of full-time experience in marketing, publishing, and business management and has taken an active role in her husband's political career.