Jury of One's CRIME AND JUSTICE BOOKSHELF
This is an ongoing list. Feel free to send your reviews, summaries or suggestions to [email protected] so we can cover all the bases.
Rush to Judgement - the Westerfield/ Danielle case
C. Stevenson. RUSH TO JUDGEMENT: A critical examination of the David Westerfield, Danielle van
Dam child kidnapping and murder case in San Diego, 2002.
Available from Amazon.com c. 2007-2011 ISBN 978-1460956977 (782 pages)
This is the largest, heaviest paperback book you will probably ever see in print!)
This is a massive and encyclopedic reference work which provides an incredible amount of detail
and meticulous research. It appears to contain virtually everything one would ever wish to
know about the Danielle van Dam disappearance and the Westerfield investigation and trial.
Three large and invaluable appendices enumerate: evidence items, court exhibits, plus additional
data and calculations regarding the forensic entomology evidence used during trial.
This is a must-have reference for all things Westerfield.
Dam child kidnapping and murder case in San Diego, 2002.
Available from Amazon.com c. 2007-2011 ISBN 978-1460956977 (782 pages)
This is the largest, heaviest paperback book you will probably ever see in print!)
This is a massive and encyclopedic reference work which provides an incredible amount of detail
and meticulous research. It appears to contain virtually everything one would ever wish to
know about the Danielle van Dam disappearance and the Westerfield investigation and trial.
Three large and invaluable appendices enumerate: evidence items, court exhibits, plus additional
data and calculations regarding the forensic entomology evidence used during trial.
This is a must-have reference for all things Westerfield.
Actual Innocence - cases from the Innocence Project
Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld, and Jim Dwyer. ACTUAL INNOCENCE: Five Days to Execution and Other Dispatches from the Wrongly Convicted. Doubleday, New York, 2000.
-- Ten case histories from the Innocence Project -- "a condemnation of the injustices of a court system that sends innocent people to death row...."
The American Jury: an important jury study from Univ. Chicago Law School
Harry Kalven, Jr. and Hans Zeisel. THE AMERICAN JURY. University of Chicago Press, c. 1966, 1971.
ISBN 0-226-42317-4 Described as "absolutely indispensable," comprehensive, a "pioneering work," of "...rigorously
scientific research." Answers the question, "How differently might judge and jury decide the same case?" Offers "a general theory of jury decision making," suitable for both lawyers and laymen.
[Juries are my favorite subject. I hope to provide a formal review of this at some time in the future. So far, I am a little disappointed since there are no direct views from jurors, but only from the judges who agreed or disagreed with them. The perspective might be called a "sociological" one, with tables of statistical comparison on various types of crime, types of defendants, types of evidence, etc. Not exactly what I expected, but contains useful information. -- KB]
ISBN 0-226-42317-4 Described as "absolutely indispensable," comprehensive, a "pioneering work," of "...rigorously
scientific research." Answers the question, "How differently might judge and jury decide the same case?" Offers "a general theory of jury decision making," suitable for both lawyers and laymen.
[Juries are my favorite subject. I hope to provide a formal review of this at some time in the future. So far, I am a little disappointed since there are no direct views from jurors, but only from the judges who agreed or disagreed with them. The perspective might be called a "sociological" one, with tables of statistical comparison on various types of crime, types of defendants, types of evidence, etc. Not exactly what I expected, but contains useful information. -- KB]
Mockery of Justice - the notorious Dr. Sam Sheppard case
Cynthia L. Cooper and Samuel Reese Sheppard. MOCKERY OF JUSTICE: The True Story of the Sheppard Murder Case. Northeastern Univ. Press, 1995. Penguin Books USA/ Onyx, New York 1997.
--- The grisly murder of a prominent doctor's pregnant wife; a shoddy investigation, a controversial trial and an uncontrolled media circus finally ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court before Dr. Sam Sheppard's conviction was reversed. The case retried, with an acquittal. The landmark "media versus fair trial" case is still being cited, especially in The People v. Westerfield. The author is Sheppard's son.
--- The grisly murder of a prominent doctor's pregnant wife; a shoddy investigation, a controversial trial and an uncontrolled media circus finally ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court before Dr. Sam Sheppard's conviction was reversed. The case retried, with an acquittal. The landmark "media versus fair trial" case is still being cited, especially in The People v. Westerfield. The author is Sheppard's son.
The Innocent Man - a non-fiction book from John Grisham
John Grisham (Non-fiction) . INNOCENT MAN. Bantam Dell/ Random House, New York, 2006.
-- The true story of the false arrest, trials, appeals and exoneration of Dennis Fritz and
Ron Williamson for the 1982 murder of Debra Carter in Oklahoma
VIDEO: Grisham speaks to Innocence Project
[This book reminds me of why I prefer fiction to True Crime. Fiction always has a happier ending. -- KB]
-- The true story of the false arrest, trials, appeals and exoneration of Dennis Fritz and
Ron Williamson for the 1982 murder of Debra Carter in Oklahoma
VIDEO: Grisham speaks to Innocence Project
[This book reminds me of why I prefer fiction to True Crime. Fiction always has a happier ending. -- KB]