Former Ohio Attorney General crusades against wrongful conviction and shows how citizens can prevent this terrifyingly common miscarriage of justice.
βWrongful criminal conviction is much more frequent than most Americans believe. The thought of imprisoned innocent people haunted me. I became determined to try to do something about it.β
- Jim Petro, Former Attorney General of Ohio
The flaws in Americaβs execution of justice lead to an unacceptable number of wrongful criminal convictions. Jim Petro was confronted with this issue when the guilt of several convicts serving life sentences was called into question. In False Justice, Jim and Nancy Petro detail and challenge eight myths of justice:
βEveryone in prison claims innocence.β βOur system almost never convicts an innocent person.β βOnly the guilty confess.β βWrongful convictions are caused by innocent human error.β βAn eyewitness is the best testimony.β βConviction errors get corrected on appeal.β βIt dishonors the victim to question a conviction.β βIf the justice system has problems, the pros will fix them.β
False Justice corrects these common misunderstandings with an important truth: true justice requires constant vigilance and is the responsibility every citizen.
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