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A 3 page book review of the text Actual Innocence. The Innocence Project is a program based at the Cardozo Law School in New York, which is run by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld. Jim Dwyer is a columnist for The Daily News, a New York newspaper (Boyer). Their book, Actual Innocence, describes some of the cases reopened by the Innocence Project, which uses DNA evidence to exonerate innocent people wrongly accused, convicted and imprisoned. Their book describes harrowing narratives that indicate that obtaining criminal justice in this country is something of a hit-or-miss proposition in this country and that, in terms of justice, the majority of cases fall on the "miss" side of the equation. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
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book, Actual Innocence, describes some of the cases reopened by the Innocence Project, which uses DNA evidence to exonerate innocent people wrongly accused, convicted and imprisoned. Their book describes harrowing
narratives that indicate that obtaining criminal justice in this country is something of a hit-or-miss proposition in this country and that, in terms of justice, the majority of cases fall
on the "miss" side of the equation. The authors explain that "...DNA tests performed during the last decade of the century not only have freed sixty-seven individuals but have
exposed a system of law that has been far too complacent about its fairness and accuracy" (Scheck, Neufeld and Dwyer xv). In other words, the prisoners freed by the Innocence
Project are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, as the authors imply that Americas incredibly overcrowded prisons may house many, many more people who are the victims
of injustice. "Sometimes eyewitnesses make mistakes. Snitches tell lies. Confessions are coerced and fabricated. Racism trumps the truth. Lab tests are rigged. Defense lawyers. Prosecutors lie" (Scheck, Neufeld and Dwyer
xv). Each of these sentences accurately describes a chapter that the authors subsequently discuss in their book. The authors argue that "tens of thousands of prisoners most likely have been
wrongly jailed" (Boyer). The first case they discuss is that of Marion Coakley, who "served more than two years in prison because of mistaken eyewitness testimony, dubious blood type
analysis and a weak alibi" (Boyer). Dennis Fritz was arrested because he happened to be friends with a man charged with rape and murder and was convicted on false testimony,
receiving a life sentence (Boyer). As this suggests, the description of this book offered by Mark Pendergrast, which is that it is "Chilling. Disturbing. Terrifying. Appalling," is quite accurate (Pendergrast).
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