Errors of Justice

Errors of Justice PDF Author: Brian Forst
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521528825
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
In this book, Brian Forst takes a fresh new perspective on the assessment of criminal justice policy, examining the prospect of assessing policies based on their impact on errors of justice: the error of failing to bring offenders to justice, on the one hand, and the error of imposing costs on innocent people and excessive costs on offenders, on the other. Noting that we have sophisticated systems for managing errors in statistical inference and quality control processes and no parallel system for managing errors of a more socially costly variety - on matters of guilt and innocence - the author lays the foundation for a common sense approach to the management of errors in the criminal justice system, from policing and prosecution to sentencing and corrections. He examines the sources of error in each sector, the harms they impose on society, and frameworks for analyzing and reducing them.

Errors of Justice

Errors of Justice PDF Author: Brian Forst
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521528825
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
In this book, Brian Forst takes a fresh new perspective on the assessment of criminal justice policy, examining the prospect of assessing policies based on their impact on errors of justice: the error of failing to bring offenders to justice, on the one hand, and the error of imposing costs on innocent people and excessive costs on offenders, on the other. Noting that we have sophisticated systems for managing errors in statistical inference and quality control processes and no parallel system for managing errors of a more socially costly variety - on matters of guilt and innocence - the author lays the foundation for a common sense approach to the management of errors in the criminal justice system, from policing and prosecution to sentencing and corrections. He examines the sources of error in each sector, the harms they impose on society, and frameworks for analyzing and reducing them.

Justice in Error

Justice in Error PDF Author: Clive Walker
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
The authors examine the various steps within the criminal justice system which have resulted in the conviction of the innocent, and suggest remedies as to how miscarriages might be avoided in the future. The contributors comprise academics, campaigners and practitioners

Trial and Error in Criminal Justice Reform

Trial and Error in Criminal Justice Reform PDF Author: Greg Berman
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442268484
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 167

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Book Description
In this revised edition of their concise, readable, yet wide-ranging book, Greg Berman and Aubrey Fox tackle a question students and scholars of law, criminology, and political science constantly face: what mistakes have led to the problems that pervade the criminal justice system in the United States? The reluctance of criminal justice policymakers to talk openly about failure, the authors argue, has stunted the public conversation about crime in this country and stifled new ideas. It has also contributed to our inability to address such problems as chronic offending in low-income neighborhoods, an overreliance on incarceration, the misuse of pretrial detention, and the high rates of recidivism among parolees. Berman and Fox offer students and policymakers an escape from this fate by writing about failure in the criminal justice system. Their goal is to encourage a more forthright dialogue about criminal justice, one that acknowledges that many new initiatives fail and that no one knows for certain how to reduce crime. For the authors, this is not a source of pessimism, but a call to action. This revised edition is updated with a new foreword by Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., and afterword by Greg Berman.

Miscarriages of Justice

Miscarriages of Justice PDF Author: Clive Walker
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 1854316877
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 438

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Book Description
The authors examine the various steps within the criminal justice system which have resulted in the conviction of the innocent, and suggest remedies as to how miscarriages might be avoided in the future. The contributors comprise academics, campaigners and practitioners.

When Law Fails

When Law Fails PDF Author: Austin Sarat
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 9780814762257
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 359

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Book Description
Since 1989, there have been over 200 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States. On the surface, the release of innocent people from prison could be seen as a victory for the criminal justice system: the wrong person went to jail, but the mistake was fixed and the accused set free. A closer look at miscarriages of justice, however, reveals that such errors are not aberrations but deeply revealing, common features of our legal system. The ten original essays in When Law Fails view wrongful convictions not as random mistakes but as organic outcomes of a misshaped larger system that is rife with faulty eyewitness identifications, false confessions, biased juries, and racial discrimination. Distinguished legal thinkers Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., and Austin Sarat have assembled a stellar group of contributors who try to make sense of justice gone wrong and to answer urgent questions. Are miscarriages of justice systemic or symptomatic, or are they mostly idiosyncratic? What are the broader implications of justice gone awry for the ways we think about law? Are there ways of reconceptualizing legal missteps that are particularly useful or illuminating? These instructive essays both address the questions and point the way toward further discussion. When Law Fails reveals the dramatic consequences as well as the daily realities of breakdowns in the law’s ability to deliver justice swiftly and fairly, and calls on us to look beyond headline-grabbing exonerations to see how failure is embedded in the legal system itself. Once we are able to recognize miscarriages of justice we will be able to begin to fix our broken legal system. Contributors: Douglas A. Berman, Markus D. Dubber, Mary L. Dudziak, Patricia Ewick, Daniel Givelber, Linda Ross Meyer, Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Austin Sarat, Jonathan Simon, and Robert Weisberg.

Jungle Justice

Jungle Justice PDF Author: Adventor Trye
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1467063266
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Where do we find justice and freedom in our world today? We believe that justice and freedom can be found on earth through the sensitive leadership of our leaders. Next to God, our leaders are given the responsibilities to safeguard our lives and properties. With that in mind, this book, Jungle Justice, presents the dramatic account of a certain insensitive leadership. The author created an imaginary state called Dubli Kingdom that symbolizes some third world nations. A self-styled leader called Blamah maliciously got into power with the aim of bringing justice and freedom to his people. Instead of delivering the goods he promised, Blamah and his admirers terrorized the sub-region for decades. He abused the dignity of humanity, and executed many former leaders, citizens and destroyed the nation beyond a century of its existence. The land became the biggest undeveloped global village. He isolated himself from other world leaders. In fact, he considered anyone who advised him as his number one enemy. Many people went into exile in the search of freedom and a better life. While Blamah was carrying on his genocidal activities, and the widespread crime of ethnic cleansing against nations in the sub-region, a liberator named Leila became the redeeming leader. He was the most successful and wisest leader who ever ruled Dubli Kingdom. He stabilized and minimized corruption, and eased crimes in the kingdom. He reconciled the nation with other nations. Leila called his form of government, the assembly democracy. With this form of government, decision-making was in the hands of every citizen, and any approved decision was presented to the national government for implementation. Dubli Kingdom rapidly developed to meet international standard through the many projects undertaken by the leading government, investors and entrepreneurs. No one could easily notice that the land was once devastated, and jungle justice was erased. A.M. Trye uses parables and proverbs as metaphors to develop the plot and explain the theme.

Justice

Justice PDF Author: Nicholas Wolterstorff
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691146306
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
Wide-ranging and ambitious, Justice combines moral philosophy and Christian ethics to develop an important theory of rights and of justice as grounded in rights. Nicholas Wolterstorff discusses what it is to have a right, and he locates rights in the respect due the worth of the rights-holder. After contending that socially-conferred rights require the existence of natural rights, he argues that no secular account of natural human rights is successful; he offers instead a theistic account. Wolterstorff prefaces his systematic account of justice as grounded in rights with an exploration of the common claim that rights-talk is inherently individualistic and possessive. He demonstrates that the idea of natural rights originated neither in the Enlightenment nor in the individualistic philosophy of the late Middle Ages, but was already employed by the canon lawyers of the twelfth century. He traces our intuitions about rights and justice back even further, to Hebrew and Christian scriptures. After extensively discussing justice in the Old Testament and the New, he goes on to show why ancient Greek and Roman philosophy could not serve as a framework for a theory of rights. Connecting rights and wrongs to God's relationship with humankind, Justice not only offers a rich and compelling philosophical account of justice, but also makes an important contribution to overcoming the present-day divide between religious discourse and human rights.

The Law's Flaws

The Law's Flaws PDF Author: Larry Laudan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781848901995
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
This is a book about the law's failure as a system of empirical inquiry. While the US Supreme Court repeatedly says that the aim of a trial is to find out the truth about a crime, there is abundant evidence that many of the rules of evidence and legal procedure are not truth-conducive. Quite the contrary; many are truth-thwarting. Relevant evidence of defendant's guilt is often excluded; reasonable inferences from the available evidence are likewise often excluded. When a defendant elects not to testify, jurors are told to draw no inculpatory inferences from the former's refusal to be questioned. If evidence of prior crimes committed by the defendant is admitted (and often it is excluded), jurors are strictly told to use them only for deciding whether the defendant lied during his testimony and not as evidence of his guilt. Making matters worse, the most important evidence rule of all (saying that defendant can be convicted only if there are no reasonable doubts about his guilt) is monumentally vague; and judges are under firm instruction to decline jurors' frequent requests to explain what a 'reasonable doubt' is. Lastly, this book examines the fact that American courts collect little information about how often they convict the innocent and no information about how often they acquit the guilty. This is tragic because ignorance of the error rates in trials and in plea bargains means that citizens have no grounds for confidence in the judicial system; such a condition of non-transparency should be unacceptable in a democracy. Reform is urgent and this book sketches some of the necessary changes.

When Justice Fails

When Justice Fails PDF Author: Robert J. Norris
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781611638561
Category : Criminal justice, Administration of
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Wrongful convictions have become a prominent concern in state and federal systems of justice. As thousands of innocent prisoners have been freed in the United States in the past few decades, social science researchers and legal actors have produced a wealth of new insights about how and why mistakes occur and what can be done to help prevent further injustices. When Justice Fails surveys the field of innocence scholarship to offer an overview of the key research, legal, and policy issues associated with wrongful convictions. Topics include the leading sources of error, the detection and correction of miscarriages of justice, the aftermath of wrongful convictions, and more. The volume includes references to historic and contemporary instances of miscarriages of justice and presents information gleaned from media sources about the cases and related policy issues. The book is ideally suited for use in undergraduate classes which focus on wrongful convictions and the administration of justice. PowerPoint slides are available to professors upon adoption of this book. You can download a sample of the full 139-slide presentation here. If you have adopted the book for a course, contact [email protected] to request the PowerPoint slides. "The learning objectives presented in the beginning of each chapter are accomplished through a variety of ways. Importantly, regardless of a student's background, discussions are presented from so many different angles that the material is tailored to all readers. Each chapter starts with a case study, introduces new concepts, discusses the related law, and concludes with presenting policy reforms. The authors not only present the issues related to wrongful convictions but the potential solutions as well." -- Matthew R. Hassett, UNC-Pembroke "I will continue to frequently open this book and read it to make myself a better police officer and to pass on knowledge to do my part in preventing wrongful convictions." -- Earthen McEachen, Senior Capstone student at Curry College in Boston

Failings of the International Court of Justice

Failings of the International Court of Justice PDF Author: A. Mark Weisburd
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199364079
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Failings of the International Court of Justice critically examines the jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice. Even though the legal instrument that establishes the Court provides that its judgments have no formal precedential value, those judgments are treated as authoritative by international lawyers throughout the world. In this book, A. Mark Weisburd argues that the Court's decisions are, in a large minority of cases, poorly reasoned and doubtful as a matter of law, and therefore ought not to be accorded the deference they receive. The book seeks to demonstrate its thesis by a careful review of the Court's errors. It begins with an examination of the law that created and empowered the Court. It then describes the body of law upon which the Court was intended to base its decisions, and the mistakes in the arguments supporting the Court's drawing legal rules from other sources. The book goes on to analyze in detail cases in which the Court has made serious legal errors, first addressing procedural errors, then turning to mistakes in the application of substantive international law. The book closes with a quantitative summing up of the Court's performance, and a tentative explanation for its relatively disappointing record.