Barred: Why the Innocent Can’t Get Out of Prison

Northeastern University law professor Medwed (Prosecution Complex) examines in this meticulous account the factors that make false convictions so difficult to overturn. Documenting wrongful convictions resulting from police misconduct, shoddy legal representation, and dubious eyewitness testimony, he notes that plea bargaining resolves 95% of criminal cases in the U.S., and describes how prosecutors—who aren’t obligated to disclose much of their evidence before trial—use “information asymmetry” to convince defendants to plead guilty. Elsewhere, he details the reasons why it is hard to prove “racial bias in the jury box”; the hurdles defense attorneys face in preserving trial issues for appellate review; and the narrow restrictions placed on convicted defendants’ use of the writ of error coram nobis, which “cite[s] the existence of facts unknown at the time of the trial judgment that would affect the soundness of the conviction.” Throughout, Medwed draws on harrowing case studies—including a 14-year-old persuaded by his “woeful” attorney into pleading guilty to murder, who spent eight years in prison even after another man confessed to the crime—to make clear how high the odds are stacked against innocent people once they’re caught in the criminal justice system. The result is a lucid and persuasive call for change. (Sept.)