Injustice: Life and Death in the Courtrooms of America - Hardcover

Stafford Smith, Clive

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1846556252 ISBN 13: 9781846556258

Publisher: Harvill Secker, 2012

Synopsis

Shortlisted for the 2013 Orwell Prize, and the 2013 CWA Non-Fiction Dagger.

In 1986, Kris Maharaj, a British businessman living in Miami, was arrested for the brutal murder of two ex-business associates. His lawyer did not present a strong alibi; Kris was found guilty and sentenced to death in the electric chair.

It wasn't until a young lawyer working for nothing, Clive Stafford Smith, took on his case that strong evidence began to emerge that the state of Florida had got the wrong man on Death Row. So far, so good - except that, as Stafford Smith argues here so compellingly, the American justice system is actually designed to ignore innocence. Twenty-six years later, Maharaj is still in jail.

Step by step, Stafford Smith untangles the Maharaj case and the system that makes disasters like this inevitable. His conclusions will act as a wake-up call for those who condone legislation which threatens basic human rights and, at the same time, the personal story he tells demonstrates that determination can challenge the institutions that surreptitiously threaten our freedom.

About this title

Review:

"True stories of wrongful convictions are by their nature utterly compelling. In Injustice, Clive Stafford Smith details a spectacular example of a bogus conviction, and the many lives ruined by it... A superbly written account of only one case, but one of thousands" (John Grisham)

"Stafford Smith is a true hero and this book helps explain why" (Jon Ronson)

"His book demonstrates with painful clarity not only how badly the US judicial process can go wrong, but how hard it is for the courts to acknowledge a mistake... Stafford Smith’s investigation unfolds with all the twists and turns of a Hollywood whodunit" (Sunday Times)

"If you believe in the death penalty, read this book. It will change your mind and change your life. A book that zaps through you at 2,000 volts – just like the current used to execute a man in the electric chair" (Susan Hill)

"An empowering read for anyone who cares about the humane implementation of justice - no matter where it is" (Colin Firth)

"This remarkable book... is an empirical study and exposition of that inimitably American blend of apathy and cruelty, of efficiency on one hand, ineptitude on the other. It is not only about institutional America, but – since Stafford Smith is a Brit – about our own special relationship with America, and the things we choose not to see or confront" (Ed Vulliamy Observer)

"Clive Stafford Smith is an extraordinary lawyer, but he is also a great storyteller and his account of the Kris Maharaj death row case is a powerful thriller, beautifully told" (Helena Kennedy Q.C.)

"A terrific read. Stranger than any fiction and much more exciting than Miami Vice" (Geoffrey Robertson Q.C.)

"Impressive and moving... Until you know how the trial went wrong, how the death penalty is actually carried out, how redress is remote, it is impossible to make a difference. But we can, and we must. Inaction by any one of us is the handmaiden of injustice" (Michael Mansfield Q.C.)

"For anyone coming fresh to the American judicial system, the story will beggar belief. Interwoven through Maharaj’s Kafkaesque experience is Stafford Smith’s angry, though controlled expose of the US justice system" (Robert Chesshyre Literary Review)

Book Description:

Shortlisted for the 2013 Orwell Prize.

A man wrongly convicted of murder, a crusading lawyer determined to overturn the death penalty and an investigation that reveals corruption at every turn. This remarkable book reads like a page-turning detective story, with one crucial difference: can we be sure that justice will be served?

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvill Secker
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1846556252
• ISBN 13: 9781846556258
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400