Book review: Ghost of the Innocent Man, by Benjamin Rachlin (Amazon / Book Depository) Wrongful conviction narratives are incomparably terrifying. They leave the reader with a lingering unease, that if this could happen to the person profiled, on flimsy or nonexistent evidence in a complex yet error-filled justice system, it could happen to anyone. It's... Continue Reading →
Eloquent Arguments Against Mass Incarceration, Capital and Excessive Punishment, and Mercy Above All
Book review: Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson (Amazon / Book Depository) Proximity has taught me some basic and humbling truths, including this vital lesson: Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done. I avoided reading Just Mercy, to some extent, because I knew it was going to be a painful book... Continue Reading →
A 1937 Crime and Trial Setting Historical Precedence
Book review: Little Shoes, by Pamela Everett (Amazon / Book Depository) I noticed this book was coming out after reading Piu Eatwell's take on Elizabeth Short's infamous murder, Black Dahlia, Red Rose. In that book, Eatwell repeatedly references the profiling work of Dr. Paul De River, a psychiatrist who, before psychologically profiling and interviewing Dahlia suspect Leslie... Continue Reading →
A Case Study of Justice and Racial Politics in Florida
Book review: Beneath a Ruthless Sun, by Gilbert King Amazon Gilbert King, 2013 Pulitzer winner for Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America, returns to the setting of that book: mid-20th century Florida and the intersection of justice and race relations, to tell a new story from the... Continue Reading →
Vanished in a Strange Land: Iceland’s Infamous Crime Alongside Cultural History
Book review: Out of Thin Air, by Anthony Adeane (Amazon / Book Depository) This is a nation of reading and storytelling, with a rich literary history of world renown, where it is a long-standing tradition to give books to each other as gifts on Christmas Eve, where the legends of the Sagas are writ large... Continue Reading →
Southern Corruption and the Flawed System Allowing Injustice
Book review: The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist, by Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington (Amazon / Book Depository) Despite the relatively low pay of the state positions in forensic pathology, a doctor willing to bend the profession's guidelines to help supply meet demand could make good money. There are quite a few places across the... Continue Reading →