False Justice: Eight Myths
that Convict the Innocent
by Jim Petro and Nancy Petro
False Justice, a
nonfiction book, is the personal narrative of
Jim Petros' awakening to wrongful criminal conviction (convicting the
innocent). Serving as Ohio Attorney General, Petro was confronted with
the nightmare of a family man convicted of murder and rape and
sentenced to life in prison even when DNA proved his innocence.
Hundreds of DNA exonerations prompted Nancy and Jim Petro to dig
deeper. What they discovered was troubling and is shared in False
Justice. Packed with true crime stories and the latest research,
False
Justice debunks eight common myths about the criminal justice
system
and provides recommended reforms.
False Justice is
the result of Jim Petro's rude awakening to wrongful
criminal conviction (convicting the innocent). He and his wife Nancy,
lifelong Republicans with a tough-on-crime stance, could not ignore the
nation's rash of DNA-proven exonerations, especially when an
uncorrected wrongful murder/rape conviction was brought to Jim's
attention while he was Ohio Attorney General. False Justice is the
unlikely story of Jim's decision to join those who had spent years
trying to correct a terrible error...and his growing awareness of what
wrongful convictions have revealed about the justice system.
Packed with true stories and the latest insights from concerned
professionals in criminal justice, scientific research, journalism, and
public service, False Justice delves into the six recurring
contributors to wrongful conviction (false confession, the use of
"snitches," bad lawyering, faulty science, government misconduct, and
mistaken eyewitness testimony), and outlines reforms that can improve
conviction accuracy. The Petros identify and debunk common
misconceptions about the criminal justice system that fuel wrongful
conviction. False Justice reveals why these myths are dead wrong and
highly destructive to finding truth and justice. |
|
- Myth 1: Everyone in prison claims innocence.
- Myth 2: Our system almost never convicts an innocent
person.
- Myth 3: Only the guilty confess.
- Myth 4: Wrongful conviction is the result of
innocent human error.
- Myth 5: An eyewitness is the best testimony.
- Myth 6: Conviction errors get corrected on appeal.
- Myth 7: It dishonors a victim to question a
conviction.
- Myth 8: If the justice system has problems, the pros
will fix them.
Visit the False
Justice website to learn more about the book, its authors and
real-life cases of wrongful conviction.
|