Notes

On cover: Astonishing true stories of wrongful convictions.Contents: Preface -- The Norfolk Four -- Guilty until proven innocent -- Autopsy games -- Last night out -- Unknown male #1 -- Tale of the tapes -- The absence of motive -- Through the looking-glass -- "Oh, what a tangled web we weave / When first we practice to deceive" -- The fire does not lie -- Acknowledgments -- A note on sources.
Summary: Ten true stories of wrongful convictions, offering an inside look at the victims of the United States criminal justice system. A fundamental principle of the US legal system is a presumption of innocence, but once someone has been found guilty there is very little room to prove doubt. This book shares the stories of men who were innocent but found guilty and forced to sacrifice friends, families, wives, and decades of their lives to prison while the guilty parties remained free. In each of the stories, the authors recount the dramatic hard-fought battles for exoneration. They take a close look at what leads to wrongful convictions in the first place, and the racism, misconduct, flawed testimony, and the corrupt court system that can make them so hard to reverse. (Publisher)