Charged, Emily Bazelon

 

Charged: The new movement to transform American prosecution and end mass incarceration by Emily Bazelon has been on my list for a while and, when I acquired it, it moved to my "must read" pile.  It was subsequently buried by a ton of other "must read" books as I tried to understand the Trump administration.

Started: 10/3/2021
Completed: 10/9/2021
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

I now understand two sides of what keeps people incarcerated.  I learned about how fees tie people down in A Pound of Flesh and now I understand how prosecutors use heavy charges in order to force guilty pleas.  Through jury duty, I have learned how little evidence is required in some cases and how much evidence in others in order to go to trial.  Through the Innocence Project and Just Mercy I have learned about truly wrongful convictions.  Through books like The Sum of Us, A Peculiar Indifference, and Golden Gates I have come to understand how people are stuck in positions from which they cannot possibly unstick themselves.  People (like James Comey and Sonya Sotomayor) who understand and operate within the system have concluded that it is broken in profound ways and the books I have read explain that in great detail.

This book looks at two people in order to illustrate the nature of problems in the justice system.  Both look at ways of dealing with crime.  The first is a case of divergence--giving someone a way other than jail to deal with criminal activity--and the second is a case of wrongful conviction and withholding evidence from the defense.  Both cases aptly described the broader issues in micro that the whole book addresses in macro.  The book is very well written and extremely compelling.  It would be good for everyone to read this book.

Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson

Just Mercy:  A story of justice and redemption by Bryan Stevenson.

Started: 11/5/2019

Completed: 11/8/2019

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended by: a bunch of people

Review:

This is very hard to read.  The stories of people charged with crimes (both those who actually committed those crimes and those who did not) take your breath away.  I have been aware that some people on death row had been found innocent.  I have been aware of notorious criminals who were unquestionably guilty (e.g. Charles Manson).  Neither of these small samples is representative of the bulk of those charged, but it is too easy to view all prisoners using these bold strokes.  This book, written by a lawyer who defends those on death row (and some lifers), looks at examples of many more types of prisoners.  It goes into detail on a few cases and still remains a small sample.  It talks about those who were executed and those who were not.  It is a hard read, but worth the read.

"Just mercy belongs to the undeserving.  That is when it is most powerful."

A Pound of Flesh, Alexes Harris

A Pound of Flesh:  Monetary sanctions as punishment for the poor by Alexes Harris.  I saw an advertisement for this book in one of the magazines I read.  I cannot remember which.  At the time, however, I was talking with my youngest about the poverty problem in Baltimore and how it might be addressed.  This book seemed relevant.  The Russel Sage Foundation published this book and sponsored the research.  The Foundation has an interesting history and looks like a reliable place to look for information on poverty and solutions on societal ills that involved the poor and disenfranchised.

Started: 4/12/2019

Completed: 4/21/2019

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By: Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

liminal -- relating to a transitional or initial stage of a process

Review:

"The linkage between criminal justice and social control institutions that overselect for the poor for people of color remains embedded in US criminal justice practices." This book is really well researched.  It is shocking the degree to which monetary payments, identified as a minimum in sentencing guidelines, cripple swathes of the population.  It just takes me aback and reminds me of both the company store and debtor's prison.  How is it that our society finds these things acceptable?

This book is remarkably hard to read as an American.  When did "restitution" become an important part of the judicial system and how did "restitution" come to mean paying for the legal process?  Really, what is wrong with our society?