The American criminal justice system

the long version

This work calls attention to a criminal justice system that needs improvement. The author shows that the police themselves often violate the law; that prosecutors send innocent citizens to prison and even to death row ; that defense attorneys take on cases they are not prepared to handle ; that juries vote guilt or innocence on the basis of emotion, not facts ; that judges are often failed attorneys or unscrupulous politicians ; and that jails and prisons are too frequently warehouses of the poor. As background for his analysis, he discusses the history of the police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges, as well as the history of prisons and "the prison industrial complex." He also offers an analysis of the death penalty and its practitioners. The book ends with recommendations for the improvement of our criminal justice system so that America can truly be, as our Supreme Court proclaims, a land of "Equal Justice under Law."