Why the Innocent Plead Guilty and the Guilty Go Free: And Other Paradoxes of Our Broken Legal System


Jed S. Rakoff - 2021
    Rakoff, a leading authority on white-collar crime, explores these and other puzzles in Why the Innocent Plead Guilty and the Guilty Go Free, a startling account of our broken legal system. Grounded in Rakoff's twenty-four years as a federal trial judge in New York in addition to the many years he worked as a federal prosecutor and criminal defense lawyer, Rakoff 's assessment of our justice system illuminates some of our most urgent legal, social, and political issues: plea deals and class-action lawsuits, corporate impunity and the death penalty, the perilsof eyewitness testimony and forensic science, the war on terror and the expanding reach of the executive branch. A fundamental problem, he reveals, is that the judiciary is constraining its own constitutional powers.Like few others, Rakoff understands the values that animate the best aspects of our legal system--and has a close-up view of our failure to live up to these ideals. But he sees within this gap great opportunities for practical reform, and a public mandate to make our justice system truly just.

Evaluation: A Systematic Approach


Peter H. Rossi - 1979
    Rossi, Mark W. Lipsey, and Howard E. Freeman first published Evaluation: A Systematic Approach, more than 90,000 readers have considered it the premier text on how to design, implement, and appraise social programs through evaluation. In this, the completely revised Seventh Edition, authors Rossi and Lipsey include the latest techniques and approaches to evaluation as well as guidelines to tailor evaluations to fit programs and social contexts.With decades of hands-on experience conducting evaluations, the authors provide scores of examples to help students understand how evaluators deal with various critical issues. They include a glossary of key terms and concepts, making this the most comprehensive and authoritative evaluation text available.Thoroughly revised, the Seventh Edition now includes* Substantially more attention to outcome measurement* Lengthy discussions of program theory, including a section about detecting program effects and interpreting their practical significance* An augmented and updated discussion of major evaluation designs* A detailed exposition of meta-analysis as an approach to the synthesis of evaluation studies* Alternative approaches to evaluation* Examples of successful evaluations* Discussions of the political and social contexts of evaluation

Chief: My Life In The L.A.P.D.


Daryl Francis Gates - 1992
    His detractors claim he's a racist, a loose cannon--and worse. In 43 years with the L.A.P.D., he's been involved with cases from Patty Hearst to the Hillside Strangler, the Watts Riots to the Black Panthers, the Robert Kennedy assassination to the video-taped beating of Rodney King. Now Gates tells all. 16-page photo insert.

Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator


Gary Noesner - 2010
    A right wing survivalist amasses a cache of weapons and resists calls to surrender. A drug trafficker barricades himself and his family in a railroad car, and begins shooting. A cult leader in Waco, Texas faces the FBI in an armed stand-off that leaves many dead in a fiery blaze. A sniper, claiming to be God, terrorizes the DC metropolitan area. For most of us, these are events we hear about on the news. For Gary Noesner, head of the FBI’s groundbreaking Crisis Negotiation Unit, it was just another day on the job. In Stalling for Time, Noesner takes readers on a heart-pounding tour through many of the most famous hostage crises of the past thirty years. Specially trained in non-violent confrontation and communication techniques, Noesner’s unit successfully defused many potentially volatile standoffs, but perhaps their most hard-won victory was earning the recognition and respect of their law enforcement peers.Noesner pursued his dream of joining the FBI all the way to Quantico, where he not only became a Special Agent, but also—in the course of a distinguished thirty-year career—the FBI’s Chief Negotiator. Gaining respect for the fledgling art of crisis negotiation in the hard-boiled culture of The Bureau, where the shadow of J. Edgar Hoover still loomed large, was an uphill battle, educating FBI and law enforcement leaders on the job at an incident, and advocating the use of psychology rather than force whenever possible. Noesner’s many bloodless victories rarely garnered as much media attention as the notorious incident management blunders like the Branch Davidian disaster in Waco and the Ruby Ridge tragedy.Noesner offers a candid as well as fascinating look back at his years as a rebel in the ranks and a pioneer on the front lines. Whether vividly recounting showdowns with the radical Republic of Texas militia, the terrorist hijackers of the cruise ship Achille Lauro, and self-styled messiah David Koresh, or clashes with colleagues and superiors that expose the internal politics and power-plays of America’s premier law enforcement agency, Stalling for Time crackles with breathtaking suspense and insight in equal measure. Case by case, minute by minute, it’s a behind the scenes view of a visionary crime-fighter in action.

Shock: The Healing Power of Electroconvulsive Therapy


Kitty Dukakis - 2006
     For more than twenty years, Kitty Dukakis battled severe depression with every medication and treatment available. But it wasn't until she tried electroconvulsive therapy- ECT-that she began getting her life back for good. Written with award-winning medical reporter Larry Tye, "Shock" is both the personal story of how ECT dramatically changed Kitty Dukakis's life as well as a captivating look at the science behind ECT, the controversy surrounding it, and the history of its intriguing rebirth in this country. "Shock" explores the stigma afflicting ECT-still a treatment that many hospitals do not administer-and debunks long-held misconceptions about how it is performed. Though some continue to view ECT as a dangerous, even barbaric, procedure, as this book explains there is no scientific evidence to suggest that ECT damages the brain. It can cause side effects like memory loss, but they generally are not far-reaching or long-lasting, especially when newer, lower-impact techniques are employed. In fact, the U.S. surgeon general and the National Institutes of Health agree that for severe depression ECT is safe, and often more effective than antidepressants or psychotherapy. An eye-opening and powerful book about one of the most contentious medical treatments in history, Shock demystifies ECT and brings to life-through Kitty Dukakis's moving account -its impressive capacity to heal. For the millions who suffer from depression, bipolar disorder, and other mental illnesses, it offers real information, practical guidance, and hope.

A Life Inside: A Prisoner's Notebook


Erwin James - 2003
    A young man when he was sent down, he has matured in prison and has reflected on the wasted years he has spent inside. This is the candid and hard-hitting account of those years. He tells of arriving in prison; about learning the who, what, why and when of prison life; about bullying and terror from other inmates and security staff; about replaying the crimes of his past over and over; and about discovering his talent for writing. This is a book that takes its readers on Erwin James's moving and terrible journey from vicious youth to reformed and reflective middle age.

The Untouchables


Eliot Ness - 1957
    Enormously successful as a long-running TV series, The Untouchables should leap onto the bestseller lists when released as a major motion picture in June, starring Robert DeNiro and Sean Connery.

Redeeming Justice: From Defendant to Defender, My Fight for Equity on Both Sides of a Broken System


Jarrett Adams - 2021
    Now, in this unforgettable memoir, a pioneering lawyer recalls the journey that led to his exoneration--and inspired him to devote his life to fighting the many injustices in our legal system.Seventeen years old and facing nearly thirty years behind bars, Jarrett Adams sought to figure out the why behind his fate. Sustained by his mother and aunts who brought him back from the edge of despair through letters of prayer and encouragement, Adams became obsessed with our legal system in all its damaged glory. After studying how his constitutional rights to effective counsel had been violated, he solicited the help of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, an organization that exonerates the wrongfully convicted, and won his release after nearly ten years in prison.But the journey was far from over. Adams took the lessons he learned through his incarceration and worked his way through law school with the goal of helping those who, like himself, had faced our legal system at its worst. After earning his law degree, he worked with the New York Innocence Project, becoming the first exoneree ever hired by the nonprofit as a lawyer. In his first case with the Innocence Project, he argued before the same court that had convicted him a decade earlier--and won.In this cinematic story of hope and full-circle redemption, Adams draws on his life and the cases of his clients to show the racist tactics used to convict young men of color, the unique challenges facing exonerees once released, and how the lack of equal representation in our courts is a failure not only of empathy but of our collective ability to uncover the truth. Justice for Sale is an unforgettable firsthand account of the limits--and possibilities--of our country's system of law.

A Doctor on the Inside: From the County Jail to the Supermax (Boxed Set)


William Wright - 2016
    William Wright’s best-selling, award-winning books in a single volume! Maximum Insecurity chronicles Wright’s true-life metamorphosis from suburban ear surgeon to life as the sole physician at Colorado’s maximum-security prison. Jailhouse Doc follows Wright’s transition from prison medicine to running the clinic at the county jail. Should be easy right? Not on your life. Told with a humor and biting wit, both books reveal the real inside operation of correctional facilities.

John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster


Sam L. Amirante - 2011
    It is a gory, grotesque tale befitting a Stephen King novel. It is also a David and Goliath saga—the story of a young lawyer fresh from the Public Defender’s Office whose first client in private practice turns out to be the worst serial killer in our nation’s history. Sam Amirante had just opened his first law practice when he got a phone call from his friend John Wayne Gacy, a well-known and well-liked community figure. Gacy was upset about what he called “police harassment” and asked Amirante for help. With the police following his every move in connection with the disappearance of a local teenager, Gacy eventually gives a drunken, dramatic, early morning confession—to his new lawyer. Gacy is eventually charged with murder and Amirante suddenly becomes the defense attorney for one of American’s most disturbing serial killers. It is his first case. This is a gripping narrative that reenacts the gruesome killings and the famous trial that shocked a nation.

Church of Lies


Flora Jessop - 2008
    I've been called apostate, vigilante, and crazy bitch, and maybe I am. But some people call me a hero, and I'd like to think they're right too. If I am a hero, maybe it's because every time I can play a part in saving a child or a woman from a life of servitude and degradation, I'm saving a little piece of me, too.I was one of twenty-eight children born to my dad and his three wives. Indoctrinated to believe that the outside world was evil, and that I resided among the righteous, I was destined to marry a man chosen for me by the Prophet. I would then live in harmony with my sister-wives, bear many children, and obey and serve my future husband in this life and throughout eternity. But my innocence didn't last long. While still a child, I understood that the church of the righteous was nothing but a church of lies.When I was eight years old my father sexually molested me for the first time, raping me when I was twelve. I tried to kill myself. Beaten, molested, taunted, and abused by family members alleging they only wanted to save my soul became a daily routine, I ran from this abuse more than once in my early teens--even attempting to cross the desert on foot. My family hunted me down. I thought government agencies would provide me safety if I reported my father. Instead, police and social services colluded with the FLDS to return me to my family and I ended up back inside polygamy, right where I started."Flora goes on from there to tell the dramatic true story of how she ultimately escaped and has been fighting against frustrating obstacles with hard fought successes in rescuing women and children from the FLDS. It's a story you can't put down.

Lincoln's Last Trial: The Murder Case That Propelled Him to the Presidency


Dan Abrams - 2018
    Abraham Lincoln, who had been involved in more than three thousand cases--including more than twenty-five murder trials--during his two-decades-long career, was hired to defend him. This was to be his last great case as a lawyer.What normally would have been a local case took on momentous meaning. Lincoln's debates with Senator Stephen Douglas the previous fall had gained him a national following, transforming the little-known, self-taught lawyer into a respected politician. He was being urged to make a dark-horse run for the presidency in 1860. Taking this case involved great risk. His reputation was untarnished, but should he lose this trial, should Harrison be convicted of murder, the spotlight now focused so brightly on him might be dimmed. He had won his most recent murder trial with a daring and dramatic maneuver that had become a local legend, but another had ended with his client dangling from the end of a rope.The case posed painful personal challenges for Lincoln. The murder victim had trained for the law in his office, and Lincoln had been his friend and his mentor. His accused killer, the young man Lincoln would defend, was the son of a close friend and loyal supporter. And to win this trial he would have to form an unholy allegiance with a longtime enemy, a revivalist preacher he had twice run against for political office--and who had bitterly slandered Lincoln as an "infidel...too lacking in faith" to be elected.Lincoln's Last Trial captures the presidential hopeful's dramatic courtroom confrontations in vivid detail as he fights for his client--but also for his own blossoming political future. It is a moment in history that shines a light on our legal system, as in this case Lincoln fought a legal battle that remains incredibly relevant today.

Up from Slavery


Booker T. Washington - 1900
    Washington, the most recognized national leader, orator and educator, emerged from slavery in the deep south, to work for the betterment of African Americans in the post Reconstruction period. "Up From Slavery" is an autobiography of Booker T. Washington's life and work, which has been the source of inspiration for all Americans. Washington reveals his inner most thoughts as he transitions from ex-slave to teacher and founder of one of the most important schools for African Americans in the south, The Tuskegee Industrial Institute.

The Last Executioner


Chavoret Jaruboon - 2006
    Here, in this book, he reveals the grim secrets of the 'Bangkok Hilton's' death row, where hundreds have perished.

My Life Among the Serial Killers: Inside the Minds of the World's Most Notorious Murderers


Helen Morrison - 2004
    Helen Morrison has profiled more than eighty serial killers around the world. What she learned about them will shatter every assumption you've ever had about the most notorious criminals known to man.Judging by appearances, Dr. Helen Morrison has an ordinary life in the suburbs of a major city. She has a physician husband, two children, and a thriving psychiatric clinic. But her life is much more than that. She is one of the country's leading experts on serial killers, and has spent as many as four hundred hours alone in a room with depraved murderers, digging deep into killers' psyches in ways no profiler before ever has.In My Life Among the Serial Killers, Dr. Morrison relates how she profiled the Mad Biter, Richard Otto Macek, who chewed on his victims' body parts, stalked Dr. Morrison, then believed she was his wife. She did the last interview with Ed Gein, who was the inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. John Wayne Gacy, the clown-obsessed killer of young men, sent her crazed Christmas cards and gave her his paintings as presents. Then there was Atlanta child killer Wayne Williams; rapist turned murderer Bobby Joe Long; England's Fred and Rosemary West, who killed girls and women in their "House of Horrors"; and Brazil's deadliest killer of children, Marcelo Costa de Andrade.Dr. Morrison has received hundreds of letters from killers, read their diaries and journals, evaluated crime scenes, testified at their trials, and studied photos of the gruesome carnage. She has interviewed the families of the victims -- and the spouses and parents of the killers -- to gain a deeper understanding of the killer's environment and the public persona he adopts. She has also studied serial killers throughout history and shows how this is not a recent phenomenon with psychological autopsies of the fifteenth-century French war hero Gilles de Rais, the sixteenth-century Hungarian Countess Bathory, H. H. Holmes of the late ninteenth century, and Albert Fish of the Roaring Twenties.Through it all, Dr. Morrison has been on a mission to discover the reasons why serial killers are compelled to murder, how they choose their victims, and what we can do to prevent their crimes in the future. Her provocative conclusions will stun you.