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“A superb work of investigative reporting…Balko and Carrington combine expertise, industry, and outrage into a searing narrative.”
— Wall Street Journal
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“Junk science convicted these men; real science set them free…The inability of judges and jurors to tell the difference is why innocent men languish in jail while the prosecutors who put them there run for higher office.”
— New York Times
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“A blistering exposé of Mississippi’s bungle-prone process of investigating deaths.”
— Garden & Gun magazine
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“A horrifying exposé of how a few individuals can infect an entire state’s criminal justice system.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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“Sometimes the best thing a narrator can do is just get out of the way of the story. Robert Fass does just that with this tale of stunning forensic fakery in the criminal justice system…Fass’ delivery is measured, steady, and varied with slight pauses…and keeps listeners engaged.”
— AudioFile
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“A clear and shocking portrait…This eminently readable book builds a hard-to-ignore case for comprehensive criminal justice reform.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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“Notable for its depth and geographic focus…this [is a] stinging exposé of faulty forensics.”
— Library Journal
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“The authors uncover an unholy alliance of racist cops and prosecutors with questionable death investigations and misapplied forensics. This work should spark both admiration and outrage—and, one hopes, reform.”
— Booklist
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“This is a true crime story, but it is more than a report of the tragic murders of two young girls. The crime at the center of this book is the one committed by a justice system that is more concerned with conviction rates than unearthing the truth…A chilling reminder of what happens to the rule of law when the law forgets the rules.”
— BookPage
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“A powerful and instructive story, masterfully told by Balko and Carrington.”
— Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author
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Of
all the tragedy documented in this book, surely the most pernicious is the unacknowledged
progression of discriminatory policies in the American criminal justice system.
The black men at the story's center were not snatched out of a Mississippi jail
and lynched. They were falsely imprisoned. They were haunted by state efforts
to execute them for three decades. This is a powerful and instructive story,
masterfully told by Balko and Carrington.
— IbramX. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from theBeginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
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The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist paints a devastating picture of Mississippi's ongoing systemic abuse of junk evidence by medical examiners and highlights the myriad ways the current legal and political systems reward certain and speedy convictions. This carefully constructed and highly-readable account also reveals the ways in which catastrophic and almost comic expert errors can lead to hasty conclusions, ruined lives, and may take years to correct, if they are corrected at all.
— DahliaLithwick, Senior Editor, Slate
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A haunting true-crime tale of systemic incompetence and racism...Balko
and Carrington have written a cry for help.
— The New York Times
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A superb work of investigative reporting....Balko and Carrington combine
expertise, industry and outrage into a searing narrative.
— Wall Street Journal
-
A
horrifying exposé of how a few individuals can infect an entire state's
criminal justice system.
— Kirkus Reviews, *Starred Review*
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A
clear and shocking portrait of the structural failings of the U.S. criminal
justice system... This eminently readable book builds a hard-to-ignore case for
comprehensive criminal justice reform.
— Publishers Weekly, *Starred Review*
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Through
the intensive scrutiny of how the men were speedily tried, convicted, and then
released after years in prison, the authors uncover an unholy alliance of
racist cops and prosecutors with questionable death investigations and
misapplied forensics. This work should spark both admiration and outrage-and,
one hopes, reform.
— Booklist