Death Penalty on Trial: Crisis in American Justice - Tapa blanda

Investigative reporter Bill Kurtis tackles the death penalty - one of America's most deeply divisive issues - and argues that it should be abolished from the US justice system. Bill Kurtis, presenter of the popular American true-crime TV series "Cold Case Files", used to support the death penalty. But after observing the machinations of the US justice system for thirty years, he came to a stunning realization that changed his life: Capital punishment is wrong. There can be no real justice in America until it is abolished. In "Death Penalty on Trial", Kurtis takes readers on his most remarkable investigative journey yet. Together, we revisit two harrowing murder scenes, study the evidence and explore the tactical decisions made before and during trial, which sent two innocent men to death row. Through these cases, we encounter the eight main reasons why the wrong people are condemned to death, including overzealous and dishonest prosecutors, corrupt policemen, unreliable witnesses and expert witnesses, incompetent defence lawyers, bias judges and prison informants. We see why the new jewel of forensic science, DNA, is revealing more than innocence and guilt, opening a window into the criminal justice system that could touch off a revolution of reform. Ultimately we come to a remarkable conclusion: the possibility for error is simply too great to allow the death penalty to stand as its ultimate punishment.

Bill Kurtis qualified as a lawyer in 1966, but instead of practicing law he embarked on a thirty-year career as a correspondent and anchorman with CBS Television. In 1985 he formed his own production company, which produces the award-winning show Investigative Reports, and the forensic science series Cold Case Files. He lives in Chicago and Kansas.