A Former Prosecutor Exposes the Psychology and Politics of Wrongful Convictions
November 1, 2017
The American justice system is currently undergoing major scrutiny and outright attack. In this book, Godsey (law, Univ. of Cincinnati), a cofounder of the Ohio Innocence Project, addresses the problem from his unique perspective as a former prosecutor who became an academic activist for the wrongfully convicted. Though this account resembles a whistle-blower's description of a broken system, the author repeatedly stresses that the problems are mainly owing to psychological, bureaucratic, and political pressures rather than to "bad" people. He competently draws from classical psychology as well as modern research on memory and criminal justice operations. Chapters are organized around negative constructs that pervade the system such as dehumanization, confirmation bias, bureaucratic denial, false memory, faulty interrogation techniques, and tunnel vision. Notorious exoneration cases from Ohio and elsewhere illustrate costly system failures. The hopeful conclusion suggests reasonable reforms, and the volume overall complements Laura Caldwell and Leslie Klinger's Anatomy of Innocence, which details similar cases. Passionate and readable, this book provides meaningful support for the Innocence movement and startling insights into the justice system while admitting the reality of systemic racism but omitting its direct discussion. VERDICT Recommended for students of law and criminal justice as well as serious enthusiasts of crime and forensics.--Antoinette Brinkman, formerly with Southwest Indiana Mental Health Ctr. Lib., Evansville
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