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Title details for Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System by M. Chris Fabricant - Available

Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System

by M. Chris Fabricant
Chris Henry Coffey
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
From CSI to Forensic Files to the celebrated reputation of the FBI crime lab, forensic scientists have long been mythologized in American popular culture as infallible crime solvers. Juries put their faith in "expert witnesses" and innocent
people have been executed as a result. Innocent people are still on death row today, condemned by junk science.
In 2012, the Innocence Project began searching for prisoners convicted by junk science, and three men, each convicted of capital murder, became M. Chris Fabricant's clients. Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System
chronicles the fights to overturn their wrongful convictions and to end the use of the "science" that destroyed their lives. Weaving together courtroom battles from Mississippi to Texas to New York City and beyond, Fabricant takes the reader on a
journey into the heart of a broken, racist system of justice and the role forensic science plays in maintaining the status quo.
At turns gripping, enraging, illuminating, and moving, Junk Science is a meticulously researched insider's perspective of the American criminal justice system. Previously untold stories of wrongful executions, corrupt prosecutors, and
quackery masquerading as science animate Fabricant's true crime narrative.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 5, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781705061435
      • File size: 312444 KB
      • Duration: 10:50:55

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from September 1, 2022

      Narrator Chris Henry Coffey's conversational delivery is perfect for this powerful work from the Innocence Project's director of strategic litigation. Fabricant (Busted: Drug War Survival Skills) defines junk science in the courtroom as "subjective speculation masquerading as science." Fabricant reports that while scientific validation research underpins legitimate forensic sciences, junk sciences such as shaken baby syndrome, shoe and tire print analysis, voice spectrometry, and hair and fiber microscopy are not based on rigorous research and have led to many wrongful convictions. Weaving in shocking accounts of Innocence Project client convictions--nearly half of all wrongful convictions overturned by DNA evidence involve misuse of forensic sciences--the author describes a justice system so intent on swiftly punishing criminals, it doesn't seem to care if the right person is locked up, as long as someone is. The narrator sounds flabbergasted as he relays stories of clients like Steven Chaney, who was convicted of murder with the help of some of the junkiest science--bite-mark analysis--despite the fact that he had nine unimpeachable alibi witnesses attesting to his whereabouts every minute of the day of the murder. VERDICT Coffey's impassioned performance of this eye-opening work should spark important conversations about criminal justice reform.--Beth Farrell

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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