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Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case
"A masterful examination of the pathetic rush to judgment in the Duke rape case." ―John Grisham
The full story of the Duke Lacrosse case, by the authors who broke it
In this American tragedy, Stuart Taylor, Jr., and KC Johnson argue, law enforcement, a campaigning prosecutor, biased journalists, and left-leaning academics repeatedly refused to pursue the truth while scapegoats were made of these young men, recklessly tarnishing their lives.
Until Proven Innocent is the only book that covers all five aspects of the case (personal, legal, academic, political, and media) in a comprehensive fashion. It is also the only book to include interviews with all three of the defendants, their families, and their legal teams. And now it includes an up-to-date epilogue detailing the aftershocks and conclusion of the case.
Taylor and Johnson's coverage of the Duke case was the earliest, most honest, and most comprehensive in the country, and here they take on the idiocies and dishonesty of right- and left-wingers alike, shedding new light on the danger of a cultural tendency toward media-fueled travesties of justice. The context of the Duke case has vast import, and in its full telling, it is captivating nonfiction with broad political, racial, and cultural relevance to our times.
"Taylor and Johnson have made a gripping contribution to the literature of the wrongly accused." ― The New York Times Book Review
" Until Proven Innocent is a stunning book." ― The Wall Street Journal
"Vivid, at times chilling . . . their most biting scorn is aimed at the ‘academic McCarthyism' that they say has infected top-rate American universities like Duke." ― Newsweek
"A superb new book . . . a book that not only reads like a legal thriller, but also exposes deep problems with America's legal system and academic culture." ― The Economist
The full story of the Duke Lacrosse case, by the authors who broke it
In this American tragedy, Stuart Taylor, Jr., and KC Johnson argue, law enforcement, a campaigning prosecutor, biased journalists, and left-leaning academics repeatedly refused to pursue the truth while scapegoats were made of these young men, recklessly tarnishing their lives.
Until Proven Innocent is the only book that covers all five aspects of the case (personal, legal, academic, political, and media) in a comprehensive fashion. It is also the only book to include interviews with all three of the defendants, their families, and their legal teams. And now it includes an up-to-date epilogue detailing the aftershocks and conclusion of the case.
Taylor and Johnson's coverage of the Duke case was the earliest, most honest, and most comprehensive in the country, and here they take on the idiocies and dishonesty of right- and left-wingers alike, shedding new light on the danger of a cultural tendency toward media-fueled travesties of justice. The context of the Duke case has vast import, and in its full telling, it is captivating nonfiction with broad political, racial, and cultural relevance to our times.
"Taylor and Johnson have made a gripping contribution to the literature of the wrongly accused." ― The New York Times Book Review
" Until Proven Innocent is a stunning book." ― The Wall Street Journal
"Vivid, at times chilling . . . their most biting scorn is aimed at the ‘academic McCarthyism' that they say has infected top-rate American universities like Duke." ― Newsweek
"A superb new book . . . a book that not only reads like a legal thriller, but also exposes deep problems with America's legal system and academic culture." ― The Economist
464 pages, Paperback
First published September 4, 2007
58 people are currently reading
450 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
December 25, 2014
This book was hard, almost impossible to get all the way through--not because it was poorly written, but because it was almost too involving. This is a case where truth really is stranger than fiction; I've never had a movie or a novel I couldn't finish, but this horrified my to such an extent that I could only get through a few pages at a time before getting so depressed I had to put it down. I'm normally a believer in the system as a whole; obviously it has its flaws and its bad actors, but there are (supposed to be) so many checks and balances that something like this shouldn't be able to happen. For the DA--for the entire criminal justice system--to hold three clearly innocent men hostages for over nine months with absolutely no one able or willing to stop them, is shocking. We're not in Mexico, we're not in the USSR, we're not any place in the world where someone could be picked at randomly and charged with heinous crimes, against and in spite of the evidence, for no reason other than having upset the ruling powers. Here, though, there was a perfect storm of media, academia, the administration, the "ruling class," and the judicial system all picked these three boys virtually at random, all to advance their own pet theories and interests.
Some people will react to my shock and awe with "Where have you been?" I know that the system isn't perfect, obviously innocent people are sometimes arrested or put through a trial, but in this case there wasn't even a good faith reason to think a rape or an assault might have been committed...at any point! What's wrong with us?
I will add props to the writers of being very even handed; I don't know if they personally are liberal or conservative or religious or not. They very correctly pointed at that the truth is (supposed to be) above partisan politics, and that there were people at all points of the spectrum who were wrong and a few who actually got it right. That kind of honesty and neutrality is rare in any context, but especially one as charged as this one.
Some people will react to my shock and awe with "Where have you been?" I know that the system isn't perfect, obviously innocent people are sometimes arrested or put through a trial, but in this case there wasn't even a good faith reason to think a rape or an assault might have been committed...at any point! What's wrong with us?
I will add props to the writers of being very even handed; I don't know if they personally are liberal or conservative or religious or not. They very correctly pointed at that the truth is (supposed to be) above partisan politics, and that there were people at all points of the spectrum who were wrong and a few who actually got it right. That kind of honesty and neutrality is rare in any context, but especially one as charged as this one.
April 13, 2011
5 stars for research, 3 stars for the writing (the authors are definitely not prose stylists), averaged out to 4. I remember reading this book about 3 years ago and feeling my blood pressure rise as the chapters wore on. So much blame to go around, well above and beyond the kamikaze legal strategies of Mike Nifong. His misdeeds were only the most glaring.
The takeaway of this entire fiasco isn't that one particular group or institution railroaded these students for something they didn't do, it's that four different groups -- law enforcement officials, the media, Duke faculty, and the Duke administration -- all working in concert with each other, fused together to perpetrate this crime; one couldn't have gone as far as it did without the tacit approval of the others.
Other disgraces that linger years after the dust has settled: Nancy Grace is still allowed to have a daily talk show -- and people continue to watch it and accord her authority. The "Group of 88" still has not publicly acknowledged they rushed to judgment by signing that highly prejudicial advertisement. It's more than just one woman falsely accusing some men of raping her, it's that all the institutional safeguards these students thought they had also failed them.
It's infuriating, it's sobering, and it's scary. This can happen again. Those in authority will subvert it if it suits their agendas, we all know that. The bigger question is whether incidents like this make the rest of us more world-weary, more patient, less inclined to convict people before a trial has even begun. We'll see.
The takeaway of this entire fiasco isn't that one particular group or institution railroaded these students for something they didn't do, it's that four different groups -- law enforcement officials, the media, Duke faculty, and the Duke administration -- all working in concert with each other, fused together to perpetrate this crime; one couldn't have gone as far as it did without the tacit approval of the others.
Other disgraces that linger years after the dust has settled: Nancy Grace is still allowed to have a daily talk show -- and people continue to watch it and accord her authority. The "Group of 88" still has not publicly acknowledged they rushed to judgment by signing that highly prejudicial advertisement. It's more than just one woman falsely accusing some men of raping her, it's that all the institutional safeguards these students thought they had also failed them.
It's infuriating, it's sobering, and it's scary. This can happen again. Those in authority will subvert it if it suits their agendas, we all know that. The bigger question is whether incidents like this make the rest of us more world-weary, more patient, less inclined to convict people before a trial has even begun. We'll see.
November 1, 2011
Sigh......This review makes me a little bit nervous because I understand that this is such a hot button issue....but c'mon. Stuart Taylor takes one extreme and runs with it as far as he can possibly go. This book is so incredibly bias the other way that it was getting ridiculous to read. I'm paraphrasing here, but as Taylor describes the incidents that happened that night, and as we now all know, those boys did not rape anyone, but he made them seem like EVERYTHING they did that night was completely fine and normal. The racial slurs, the suggestion of using a broom on one of the strippers...... I get it. The author titled his book the "Shameful Injustice" and it absolutely was, but this book could have been written with A LOT less anger, isn't it all the anger that started this out of control issue in the first place? I recommend going somewhere else if you're looking for a full picture of what happened in that case.
April 15, 2014
I have to confess I never finished this. The facts are compelling, and it have always believed that Mr. Nifong committed prosecutorial misconduct and that regardless of what occurred, the likelihood of conviction was infinitesimal given the facts. I'm a prosecutor, and I was outraged by the prosecution. I also think the university bowed to political pressure rather than act responsibly. Which is not to say these boys didn't behave abhorrently, or that the lacrosse culture wasn't disgusting. In short, no one involved comes out looking good. The facts are fascinating, if extremely disturbing. My problem with this particular book,and the reason I didn't finish it, is that it uses the case to paint all feminists and liberals as evil and hypocritical. I'm no extremist, but I quit at the point where I couldn't escape the feeling that the authors were former white frat boys who are still pissed off that the world won't totally bend to their will anymore.
December 5, 2017
During my sophomore year of college, political correctness began to pervade all aspects of student life. I thought I could escape it by spending all my time in the engineering building, but that reality came crashing down when a computer science professor dedicated an entire class to discussing what he perceived were campus inequalities. At that point, I realized I needed to make an effort to understand what was happening both on campus and at similar schools in the northeast such as Dartmouth and Yale.
My parents and I are two generations apart, and I was raised with what is now considered an old-fashioned worldview. I grew up without the vaguest notion of what political correctness was. I recall the Good Morning America coverage of the Duke lacrosse scandal, which probably coincided with the last year that what GMA aired could have passed as journalism. I remember the stripper being described only as an exotic dancer. I remember the Duke lacrosse team being pitched as wealthy, privileged, white, and above average at lacrosse.
I remember the coverage ceasing. But the Duke lacrosse scandal never ended. It just served as the jumping off point for a crusade has turned venerable institutions into laughing stocks and those who fight back into villains. The parallels between what happened at Duke and what I experienced in college are striking.
One fall night, a group of fraternity brothers was leaving a bar. They got in a heated argument with some football players. The N Word was uttered. As the group of white guys walked away, one of the football players caught someone straggling behind the group and beat him within inches of his life. This included some flavor of curb stomping. The details of the man’s trauma were shocking. Doctors noted that yawning will be accompanied by paralyzing pain for the rest of his life.
This was a case of white versus black. Privileged fraternity members versus stereotypically undereducated football players. Vaguely, rich versus poor. The dichotomy was clear cut. This story didn’t have a hero, but the villain only ended up getting convicted for simple assault, despite the judge declaring “the brutality of the assault, the viciousness of the assault, is beyond belief.”
As a direct response to this incident, a new grassroots movement was started to “address campus inequalities.” And the football player became the group’s pariah.
Specifically, this group, called From Beneath the Rug, was “A UNITED COALITION OF ALL MARGINALIZED GROUPS THAT IS CALLING ATTENTION TO ALL THE ISSUES THAT [THE SCHOOL] PUSHES ‘BENEATH THE RUG’.”
Similar to how the Duke administration and the rest of the country assaulted the character of the Duke lacrosse players, almost overnight, everyone who was straight and white at my school had to go on the defensive. There were vague accusations of a racially hostile campus climate. There was insistence that the campus was unwelcoming to people who weren't straight. There was the notion that the school’s administration had been systematically sweeping incidents beneath the rug.
The group immediately had full support of professors from academic departments that Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson go to great lengths not to describe as total jokes. There were protests, Facebook posts, and then a march in which the members of this student group affixed duct tape to their lips. After all the initial hubbub, a reporter from the student newspaper had the bright idea to ask members of the group what exactly they were asking for. They refused comment.
A few days later, they posted a long, rambling list of injustices and corresponding demands online. The only evidence of incidents of racial bias they included was quoted directly from an anonymous Tumblr page the group had set up because apparently nobody involved could write a cohesive essay providing evidence of a single significant injustice. While none of these demands were ever taken seriously, the administration then spent hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars to facilitate campus-wide adoption of political correctness, create new bureaus and hire more bureaucrats, and lull everyone into thinking it was normal and necessary.
Through the madness, I sought to gain understanding by speaking with those involved. I was repeatedly told that I could never understand. A few times, I debated issues on Facebook and was ganged up on and threatened. People agreed with me in whispers but nobody wanted to risk publicly standing by my side. The opposing arguments often came down to “if I decide that a word or action hurts me, it shouldn’t be allowed to transpire.” Recall the video from Yale where a professor walks into a mob and starts debating the protestors on their being offended about his wife’s email regarding Halloween costumes. If you haven’t ever watched it, check it out, it’s one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen and is a stark reminder of why this book is so important: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMc8p....
I started to feel marginalized myself. Some of my fraternity brothers shared my fear that the campus climate was becoming hellish, but others, who were choirboys, were okay with having their characters assaulted while watching the chances of our administration guiding our once-great school on any path to prominence vanish in the face of political correctness. The football player picked up a DUI charge while awaiting trial and just last year was arrested for his role in a drug dealing operation. One of the main takeaways from Rosa Parks and her arrest leading to the Montgomery Bus Boycott is that she was carefully selected from a pool of several women due to her character being relatively unassailable. Choose your pariah carefully!
Until Proven Innocent helped me reconcile many of the raw thoughts I have had regarding political correctness with factual evidence and verbose, exhaustive arguments. The book’s length and somewhat repetitive nature is necessary because the authors’ goal was to slam the door shut on the Duke lacrosse case. It was done well and in a balanced manner. You know, as humans we actively seek out that which confirms our own biases. Mine, as they pertain to this subject, are as clear as day. While the authors took a side (the winning side; the other side being presented in the book Crystal Mangnum wrote before being convicted of murder), they don’t let any of their biases bleed through.
It can be lonely when it feels like everyone is against you, and this was a vindicating read for me. My new sense of comfort, however, was marginalized by the facts as they pertain to this case. What happened is horrifying. The myriad injustices are too many to name. It was bad to the point that I’m surprised not a single member of the lacrosse team or their parents ended up dying due to the stress and anxiety.
This is one of those books that stays with you forever. It keeps you up at night. It ever so slightly changes the way you analyze the world around you as you walk down the street. It’s so powerful that I can’t put it eloquently. I would find myself so, for lack of a better term, damaged, after a long reading session that my comments on the book would be reduced to “Man, this Duke lacrosse book…” But I felt a lump in my throat whenever I reached the point in conversation at which my friends are used to hearing me pitch them to buy the book. I know we’d all be better off if more people read this book, but I have trouble recommending it because, especially if you attended college in the last decade, it will lead to you becoming more cynical.
My parents and I are two generations apart, and I was raised with what is now considered an old-fashioned worldview. I grew up without the vaguest notion of what political correctness was. I recall the Good Morning America coverage of the Duke lacrosse scandal, which probably coincided with the last year that what GMA aired could have passed as journalism. I remember the stripper being described only as an exotic dancer. I remember the Duke lacrosse team being pitched as wealthy, privileged, white, and above average at lacrosse.
I remember the coverage ceasing. But the Duke lacrosse scandal never ended. It just served as the jumping off point for a crusade has turned venerable institutions into laughing stocks and those who fight back into villains. The parallels between what happened at Duke and what I experienced in college are striking.
One fall night, a group of fraternity brothers was leaving a bar. They got in a heated argument with some football players. The N Word was uttered. As the group of white guys walked away, one of the football players caught someone straggling behind the group and beat him within inches of his life. This included some flavor of curb stomping. The details of the man’s trauma were shocking. Doctors noted that yawning will be accompanied by paralyzing pain for the rest of his life.
This was a case of white versus black. Privileged fraternity members versus stereotypically undereducated football players. Vaguely, rich versus poor. The dichotomy was clear cut. This story didn’t have a hero, but the villain only ended up getting convicted for simple assault, despite the judge declaring “the brutality of the assault, the viciousness of the assault, is beyond belief.”
As a direct response to this incident, a new grassroots movement was started to “address campus inequalities.” And the football player became the group’s pariah.
Specifically, this group, called From Beneath the Rug, was “A UNITED COALITION OF ALL MARGINALIZED GROUPS THAT IS CALLING ATTENTION TO ALL THE ISSUES THAT [THE SCHOOL] PUSHES ‘BENEATH THE RUG’.”
Similar to how the Duke administration and the rest of the country assaulted the character of the Duke lacrosse players, almost overnight, everyone who was straight and white at my school had to go on the defensive. There were vague accusations of a racially hostile campus climate. There was insistence that the campus was unwelcoming to people who weren't straight. There was the notion that the school’s administration had been systematically sweeping incidents beneath the rug.
The group immediately had full support of professors from academic departments that Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson go to great lengths not to describe as total jokes. There were protests, Facebook posts, and then a march in which the members of this student group affixed duct tape to their lips. After all the initial hubbub, a reporter from the student newspaper had the bright idea to ask members of the group what exactly they were asking for. They refused comment.
A few days later, they posted a long, rambling list of injustices and corresponding demands online. The only evidence of incidents of racial bias they included was quoted directly from an anonymous Tumblr page the group had set up because apparently nobody involved could write a cohesive essay providing evidence of a single significant injustice. While none of these demands were ever taken seriously, the administration then spent hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars to facilitate campus-wide adoption of political correctness, create new bureaus and hire more bureaucrats, and lull everyone into thinking it was normal and necessary.
Through the madness, I sought to gain understanding by speaking with those involved. I was repeatedly told that I could never understand. A few times, I debated issues on Facebook and was ganged up on and threatened. People agreed with me in whispers but nobody wanted to risk publicly standing by my side. The opposing arguments often came down to “if I decide that a word or action hurts me, it shouldn’t be allowed to transpire.” Recall the video from Yale where a professor walks into a mob and starts debating the protestors on their being offended about his wife’s email regarding Halloween costumes. If you haven’t ever watched it, check it out, it’s one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen and is a stark reminder of why this book is so important: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMc8p....
I started to feel marginalized myself. Some of my fraternity brothers shared my fear that the campus climate was becoming hellish, but others, who were choirboys, were okay with having their characters assaulted while watching the chances of our administration guiding our once-great school on any path to prominence vanish in the face of political correctness. The football player picked up a DUI charge while awaiting trial and just last year was arrested for his role in a drug dealing operation. One of the main takeaways from Rosa Parks and her arrest leading to the Montgomery Bus Boycott is that she was carefully selected from a pool of several women due to her character being relatively unassailable. Choose your pariah carefully!
Until Proven Innocent helped me reconcile many of the raw thoughts I have had regarding political correctness with factual evidence and verbose, exhaustive arguments. The book’s length and somewhat repetitive nature is necessary because the authors’ goal was to slam the door shut on the Duke lacrosse case. It was done well and in a balanced manner. You know, as humans we actively seek out that which confirms our own biases. Mine, as they pertain to this subject, are as clear as day. While the authors took a side (the winning side; the other side being presented in the book Crystal Mangnum wrote before being convicted of murder), they don’t let any of their biases bleed through.
It can be lonely when it feels like everyone is against you, and this was a vindicating read for me. My new sense of comfort, however, was marginalized by the facts as they pertain to this case. What happened is horrifying. The myriad injustices are too many to name. It was bad to the point that I’m surprised not a single member of the lacrosse team or their parents ended up dying due to the stress and anxiety.
This is one of those books that stays with you forever. It keeps you up at night. It ever so slightly changes the way you analyze the world around you as you walk down the street. It’s so powerful that I can’t put it eloquently. I would find myself so, for lack of a better term, damaged, after a long reading session that my comments on the book would be reduced to “Man, this Duke lacrosse book…” But I felt a lump in my throat whenever I reached the point in conversation at which my friends are used to hearing me pitch them to buy the book. I know we’d all be better off if more people read this book, but I have trouble recommending it because, especially if you attended college in the last decade, it will lead to you becoming more cynical.
March 17, 2019
Like many, I 'experienced' this case via the 'news' media and vaguely followed it to its incredible end. Yet a reading of this highly detailed and passionate book over 10 years later shows that the playbook of the Left in America has not changed one iota. The Duke lacrosse 'case' (it never deserved to be a case in the first place) was the ultimate example of Fake News before the term was ever coined. It went on for months led by the the 'leaders' in the media including the NYT and WaPo and of course CNN. Same playbook as Ferguson, MO, the UVA frat-rape hoax, Jussie Smollett, the Covington Boys, and the next one to come. Rush to judgement, ignore or distort facts and do as much as possible to destroy the so-called enemies of 'leftism' (in fact, tyranny). This book is as complete an indictment of the media and their allies in the academic world as you will ever be sad to read. Yes, they were helped by the incredibly corrupt DA but anyone with a slightest wish for truth would have realized early on the phenomenal weakness of the entire case. And virtually nothing has changed, which is even sadder. In fact, the so-called 'Group of 88' professors at Duke were strengthened. The complete takeover of 'elite' American universities with the pathogen of far-leftist thought is scarier than almost anything I have seen. Entire departments apparently consist of ideologues of one side only and they are 'teaching' our youth their 'values'. That this is happening at Universities, where objective inquiry into truth is (or was) supposed to be a prime value is even more disturbing. Uniformity of thought on college campuses is hardly even questioned anymore. Look what happens when a Ben Shapiro wants to speak at a college! The fact that not one Duke U. professor lost their position as a result of their slander against innocent (or should have been presumed not guity) students is shameful, even the Durham DA lost his job. I daresay these 'humanities' departments have shifted even further left (if that were possible) today. If I were a Duke alumnus not $.01 would ever go to that school. But they are far, far from alone.
June 23, 2015
Over the top rhetoric and repeatedly telling - not showing - the reader who are the good guys and the bad guys is not a strong method of making an argument. From what I can tell, the facts of the case speak for themselves, but rather than telling the story and letting the reader draw the (ineluctable) conclusion that an appalling injustice occurred, the author bangs on his drum so loudly and clumsily that the book became unreadable. I put it down after 100 pages.
November 3, 2015
This book is a laboriously researched (but too long) study of the unfounded rape indictments of three Duke University students in 2006. It is a tale of prosecutorial abuse, police incompetence/complicity, university spinelessness, and stomach-turning undergraduate excess that culminated in a district attorney's disgrace and a dismissal of charges--after the students had been hounded out of school, subjected to faculty and student vituperation, and pilloried in local and national media for a crime they did not commit.
The authors don't hide the fact that they have contempt for the political correctness that led to a widely accepted premise of guilty until proven innocent. Curiously, one of the main villains in the story, Durham, N.C. District Attorney Mike Nifong, receives extensive attention while remaining something of a blank. He seized on the rape allegation--virtually encouraged and developed it--to help him win votes in an election campaign. Clearly he was an arrogant, duplicitous prosecutor, but it's still difficult to understand his reality-denying downward spiral, bad judgment, cynicism, and self-destructive actions.
Duke is a nationally prominent, well-endowed university, so this episode made news, generating a media loop that spun around and around for almost a year. But Nifong ultimately could not hide all the exculpatory evidence he illegally kept from the defense, and he ceased to be a local hero for prosecuting privileged white students who did not do what he, and their accuser, said they did. Nifong had the case taken out of his hands, then the North Carolina bar association drove him out of the legal profession.
For more details, read the book. It is chock-full of details, most of which are depressing but appear grounded in fact.
The authors don't hide the fact that they have contempt for the political correctness that led to a widely accepted premise of guilty until proven innocent. Curiously, one of the main villains in the story, Durham, N.C. District Attorney Mike Nifong, receives extensive attention while remaining something of a blank. He seized on the rape allegation--virtually encouraged and developed it--to help him win votes in an election campaign. Clearly he was an arrogant, duplicitous prosecutor, but it's still difficult to understand his reality-denying downward spiral, bad judgment, cynicism, and self-destructive actions.
Duke is a nationally prominent, well-endowed university, so this episode made news, generating a media loop that spun around and around for almost a year. But Nifong ultimately could not hide all the exculpatory evidence he illegally kept from the defense, and he ceased to be a local hero for prosecuting privileged white students who did not do what he, and their accuser, said they did. Nifong had the case taken out of his hands, then the North Carolina bar association drove him out of the legal profession.
For more details, read the book. It is chock-full of details, most of which are depressing but appear grounded in fact.
May 4, 2018
I thought that Until Proven Innocent would be a sober analysis of abuse of power and the dangers of rushing to judgment; instead, I got a jeremiad about various liberal offenses. If I want that, I'll tune into Sean Hannity. Do not read this.
May 1, 2021
disclaimer that i know the author very slightly from a long time ago [classmate of one of my siblings], but since I disagree with him on most political topics I think i can be objective.
Read this quite a while ago but apparently before i was on goodreads as i don't see a review by me. Just reread it while waiting for my library holds to come thru (I'm vaccinated, so can't we reopen the library?).
Anyway, as you may well recall, the prosecution of 3 White Duke laxbros for gang rape of a Black stripper they'd hired to perform at a party fell apart completely in the wake of ample evidence that they had alibis [the world being time-stamped and everyone being on their phones constantly anymore has i guess one side benefit -- if you're falsely accused of a crime, you can probably prove it more readily than BITD], that the alleged victim's story as to what happened and who in particular did it was inconsistent and implausible, and that the DNA tests came back as exculpatory for entire lacrosse team.
The book is, to me, totally convincing on that point, as well as on the moral failure of Duke leadership (President down thru most faculty) to support the innocent-until-proven-guilty status of their own students [or at least to shut up until it was investigated more fully instead of throwing them under the bus] and the corruption of the prosecuting DA who kept going long after it was clear there was no case.
.........mostly convincing on the shoddiness of a lot of media coverage that presumed guilt and on the relevance of "political correctness" to people's finding it hard to believe these guys were not guilty......
.......and least convincing on the players' being awesome amazing young men. You don't of course have to be an amazing guy to not deserve to be indicted on provably false rape charge just to further a DA's re-election campaign, so it was overkill, but it did get old in my reading to keep hearing from one attorney after another faculty member after another high school coach or family friend saying "sure, like any college guy they generated some noise complaints and the occasional public urination charge, but i can only hope and pray that my son grows up to be like......"
Read this quite a while ago but apparently before i was on goodreads as i don't see a review by me. Just reread it while waiting for my library holds to come thru (I'm vaccinated, so can't we reopen the library?).
Anyway, as you may well recall, the prosecution of 3 White Duke laxbros for gang rape of a Black stripper they'd hired to perform at a party fell apart completely in the wake of ample evidence that they had alibis [the world being time-stamped and everyone being on their phones constantly anymore has i guess one side benefit -- if you're falsely accused of a crime, you can probably prove it more readily than BITD], that the alleged victim's story as to what happened and who in particular did it was inconsistent and implausible, and that the DNA tests came back as exculpatory for entire lacrosse team.
The book is, to me, totally convincing on that point, as well as on the moral failure of Duke leadership (President down thru most faculty) to support the innocent-until-proven-guilty status of their own students [or at least to shut up until it was investigated more fully instead of throwing them under the bus] and the corruption of the prosecuting DA who kept going long after it was clear there was no case.
.........mostly convincing on the shoddiness of a lot of media coverage that presumed guilt and on the relevance of "political correctness" to people's finding it hard to believe these guys were not guilty......
.......and least convincing on the players' being awesome amazing young men. You don't of course have to be an amazing guy to not deserve to be indicted on provably false rape charge just to further a DA's re-election campaign, so it was overkill, but it did get old in my reading to keep hearing from one attorney after another faculty member after another high school coach or family friend saying "sure, like any college guy they generated some noise complaints and the occasional public urination charge, but i can only hope and pray that my son grows up to be like......"
January 25, 2016
This book has some very good information and a detailed timeline of the events surrounding the Duke rape case. The main crux of the argument is to avoid the rush to judgment that occurred by the media and the prosecutor and police. However, the authors undercut their moral high-ground by engaging in behavior they criticize from others. The authors chastise the media for painting the lacrosse players as wholly "bad" and the alleged victim as wholly "good"- a very valid critique. But the authors do the same thing presenting the lacrosse players as practically perfect in every way and anything negative is dismissed or downplayed as "boys being boys" and the alleged victim as a crazy, drug-addled prostitute. The authors merely flip who is "good" and "bad" in the story and engage in the same tactics they chastise others for.
The ideal that all of this occurred because of political correctness is also very tenuous. A better argument might be that people follow authority uncritically. When a prosecutor says he has evidence of a crime we accept it because we expect these individuals to be trustworthy. That trust was abused in this case but not necessarily because of political correctness but due to a very bad actor(s).
The final chapters on feminism and higher education are merely diatribes by the authors and add nothing to the narrative.
The ideal that all of this occurred because of political correctness is also very tenuous. A better argument might be that people follow authority uncritically. When a prosecutor says he has evidence of a crime we accept it because we expect these individuals to be trustworthy. That trust was abused in this case but not necessarily because of political correctness but due to a very bad actor(s).
The final chapters on feminism and higher education are merely diatribes by the authors and add nothing to the narrative.
January 24, 2023
I enjoyed and learned a lot from the book. However, it did read as a pro lacrosse player screed at times. There seems to be little attempt at neutral objective analysis. The book portrays the players as innocent, which they were but it also excoriates the Duke administration, faculty, and media as rushing to judgment, completely discarding due process and the presumption of innocence. The 2 biggest takeaways for me were:
1. How committed certain people can become to a cause or belief that despite overwhelming evidence that explodes their previously held beliefs, they will do everything to evade and ignore the contravening evidence. What was more shocking, some of them went to the extent of casting themselves as victims. This is a classic case of what author Thomas Sowell refers to as the vision of the anointed.
2. The legal system needs serious reform. The major reason why these players were able to win their case, besides having the truth on their side, was they and their families had the financial resources to combat this modern-day lynching. Any indigent person (white, black or whatever) would not have been able to fight the charges and would have been convicted and sentenced to a very long prison sentence, with the social stigma of being a rapist upon release.
1. How committed certain people can become to a cause or belief that despite overwhelming evidence that explodes their previously held beliefs, they will do everything to evade and ignore the contravening evidence. What was more shocking, some of them went to the extent of casting themselves as victims. This is a classic case of what author Thomas Sowell refers to as the vision of the anointed.
2. The legal system needs serious reform. The major reason why these players were able to win their case, besides having the truth on their side, was they and their families had the financial resources to combat this modern-day lynching. Any indigent person (white, black or whatever) would not have been able to fight the charges and would have been convicted and sentenced to a very long prison sentence, with the social stigma of being a rapist upon release.
April 10, 2008
This is by far the best book I've read all year. It's intense and rather daunting, but it will grab the reader and make you think. It's thought-provoking, and I admit, made me just angry. It's a shape to see what a hold the EXTREME liberal left in seems to have on colleges across America. The left holds to the claim that they believe in the innocent, but this book sheds light on how in the case of the alleged Duke assault, they were willing to point the finger because of politically correctness. Kudos to the authors for what must have been a painstakingly effort of research. Americans across the country should be outraged that incidents like this occur throughout the nation everyday. I recommend this book for those willing to take an upclose look at thier personal views and see how prejudices can affect the judicial system. I admit, it took me longer than normal to read, since it was non-fiction, but well-worth the read.
September 25, 2013
The writers researched this topic and detailed the entire line of events from the beginning to end almost religiously. Unfortunately, Taylor and Johnson tend to mercilessly attack those who ended up being wrong...in an unwarranted way. Overall, a very informative read; and in many ways, rather chilling. While it did make me stop and think critically about my own beliefs, I do caution that in the process of warning against extremism, the authors have put themselves dangerously close to the other side of the spectrum.
October 14, 2016
It's hard to argue with John Grisham's assessment of this book: 'Brutally honest, unflinching, exhaustively researched, and compulsively readable, Until Proven Innocent excoriates those who led the stampede—the prosecutor, the cops, the media—but it also exposes the cowardice of Duke’s administration and faculty.'
Perhaps the most depressing fact presented is this one, the next to last sentence in the book: 'The extremist professors and biased journalists who joined the mob in the Duke lacrosse rape fraud have suffered no consequences.'
Perhaps the most depressing fact presented is this one, the next to last sentence in the book: 'The extremist professors and biased journalists who joined the mob in the Duke lacrosse rape fraud have suffered no consequences.'
October 9, 2008
Interesting read. I wanted to read it because we lived there and Kevin went to school there at Duke. It was a neat read for me since I knew the places mentioned as well as some of the people. Interesting book for anyone. Every person in our country should be innocent until proven guilty, but as this book points out, this is not true for many cases around the country. The Duke Lacrosse team was already convicted prior to any trial in the newspaper, television, and within the Duke community.
July 8, 2012
It is sickening to realize that this is world in which we live. Our news sources are motivated not by the spread of accurate information but rather by the dramatic impact of the slants that can make the best headlines. This case is sickening, though not because of the "crime," but because of the reactions we the masses had to it. Truly eye-opening. Something like this should be required reading in every college journalism course in the country.
September 15, 2008
Although I followed this story somewhat in the newspapers as it was unfolding, I really had no idea what the real story was. This is a page-turner and an eye-opener. The story is powerful and breathtaking and frightening. It challenges one's assumptions about the legal system and introduces those of us who attended college many years ago to what life today is like on campus.
August 29, 2012
Shame on the editor...some clear typos, and the story could be tighter. That said, if this book doesn't move you--to the point of wanting to scream--I am not sure what will. The injustice done by the Duke community and Durham law enforcement community to the young men on the lacrosse team is unfathomable. Political correctness run amok.
April 24, 2008
Couldn't make it past the first chapter.
February 22, 2009
This is by far the best book I've read all year.An excellent account on what actually occured with the Duke Lacrosse, rather than what the media reported.5 Stars for Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson.
December 26, 2012
Excellent book about how dangerous and irrational some can be...
August 9, 2013
A great book that captures your attention and holds onto it. Also a great lesson for prosecutors on how not to "Nifong" it.
December 16, 2017
I really wanted to like this because of its significance in giving a comprehensive view of all the atrocities and prejudgments surrounding this incident. However, the book was an absolute slog that dragged on unnecessarily for no reason other than to provide the authors with their own platform to criticize those who ignorantly spoke out against the players. The book was repetitious when it came to the facts of the case; for example, when a news report or statement came out "citing" to facts of the case it was often followed by "false" which any reader would know after having read the facts 10 prior times and having the same response made.
To its credit, the book did a good job of putting the police, Nifong, the Duke administration, outspoken faculty, media, and others on full blast for misrepresenting what happened. It was simply too much for me - after 2 or 3 news stories that were clearly wrong it didn't seem necessary to continue discussing all the other outlets. The book would have been better served had it been written with endnotes as opposed to referring to the sources in the body which I concluded from the very first chapter. Also, way too many typos that should've been caught by the editors.
What happened to these boys is a tragedy. The fact that Nifong would go to such lengths for his own financial gain (i.e. pension) is deplorable, that Gottlieb would try to make out a case due to his own animosity towards Dukies is disgusting but not unheard of, that the media would distort and intentionally ignore the truth is unsurprising given their drive for readers/viewers, that the administration would throw its own students under the bus is astonishing. What I found most troubling was how the Group of 88 used this allegation as a platform to advance their own agenda in such an antagonistic manner. Maybe it's my own naivete or never having seen it while attending college, but to think that college professors would express their beliefs in the manner that they did and then turn their classrooms into such a hostile environment absolutely floored me.
To its credit, the book did a good job of putting the police, Nifong, the Duke administration, outspoken faculty, media, and others on full blast for misrepresenting what happened. It was simply too much for me - after 2 or 3 news stories that were clearly wrong it didn't seem necessary to continue discussing all the other outlets. The book would have been better served had it been written with endnotes as opposed to referring to the sources in the body which I concluded from the very first chapter. Also, way too many typos that should've been caught by the editors.
What happened to these boys is a tragedy. The fact that Nifong would go to such lengths for his own financial gain (i.e. pension) is deplorable, that Gottlieb would try to make out a case due to his own animosity towards Dukies is disgusting but not unheard of, that the media would distort and intentionally ignore the truth is unsurprising given their drive for readers/viewers, that the administration would throw its own students under the bus is astonishing. What I found most troubling was how the Group of 88 used this allegation as a platform to advance their own agenda in such an antagonistic manner. Maybe it's my own naivete or never having seen it while attending college, but to think that college professors would express their beliefs in the manner that they did and then turn their classrooms into such a hostile environment absolutely floored me.
October 30, 2017
In the book Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor Jr. and KC Johnson, the authors use literary techniques to develop the overall theme of the book. Using Third person point of view, a Critical tone, and logos, the authors developed the writing. A third person point of view helps develop the author’s writing because it gives a perspective of someone who tells the story of what actually happened and doesn’t have a limited point of view from one side. The authors implement the third person point of view to make the readers confident that the authors knows everything they could possibly know about the case. This makes the reader feel that their not missing out on any key information that someone could leave out if they were biased. The authors had a very critical tone by making a lot of disapproving comments on how Nifong and others should have known that the lack of evidence should have led them to believe that the lacrosse players were innocent. The critical tone is valuable to this story because it ties his disapprovement with logic, or logos, which the authors use to prove what they said had meaning. I like the author's use of logos because it proved that Nifong was using the case to support his liberal agenda. He made a lot of people think that the lacrosse players were terrible people and the author’s point of view, critical tone, and the use of logos all put together proved their opinion on the matter. Someone who enjoys books like “To Kill a Mockingbird”, where there is the demonization of the person on trial who should be innocent, might like this book. The themes of these two books might be different, but they both incorporate the systematic oppression of the innocent.
December 20, 2024
The story of the malicious prosecution of the Duke University lacrosse team for an alleged rape. The prosecutor, Mike Nifong, needed something to get voter support to get elected and this case was the perfect vehicle, except that his witness, the purported victim, was completely unreliable, several electronic time stamps, DNA evidence, and witnesses said it never happened. But once he got on the horse he had to ride it and it did a lot of damage to everyone involved.
This story does an excellent job of documenting what happened up until 2007 when it was written. Unfortunately, the story didn't end then. I suspect it had to be published then in order to ride the wave of publicity and sell books, but it doesn't include any of the follow up of what happened to Nifong after he was removed and censored by the NC Bar Association.
I would have given it a 4 based on the quality of research, but the authors couldn't stop making snarky comments about everyone on the wrong side of the final outcome. I understand their animosity toward Nifong, the Duke administration, and several media outlets, but just stating facts without adding editorial comments would have made them appear more objective, and I just got tired of hearing it.
This story does an excellent job of documenting what happened up until 2007 when it was written. Unfortunately, the story didn't end then. I suspect it had to be published then in order to ride the wave of publicity and sell books, but it doesn't include any of the follow up of what happened to Nifong after he was removed and censored by the NC Bar Association.
I would have given it a 4 based on the quality of research, but the authors couldn't stop making snarky comments about everyone on the wrong side of the final outcome. I understand their animosity toward Nifong, the Duke administration, and several media outlets, but just stating facts without adding editorial comments would have made them appear more objective, and I just got tired of hearing it.
March 12, 2020
This started out good and kept me urning pages for the first couple of chapters but then became really hard to read.
The story about how the players were wronged is interesting and important, but it’s more like a dissertation on political correctness (PC) using the duke lacrosse case as one of many examples of the dangers of PC. Instead of summarizing how newspapers, the Duke staff, and the community in general failed these kids due to their own biases, the authors spend copious amounts of time describing in great detail every single injustice done to these players, ad nauseam. I understand what they were trying to achieve, but it was just way too much detail. I skipped chapters and tens of pages, and would still find myself saying omg can we get on with the story. And it’s worth saying that I’m one of these people who gets bogged down in details, lol, so for me to say this was too detailed is significant.
The story about how the players were wronged is interesting and important, but it’s more like a dissertation on political correctness (PC) using the duke lacrosse case as one of many examples of the dangers of PC. Instead of summarizing how newspapers, the Duke staff, and the community in general failed these kids due to their own biases, the authors spend copious amounts of time describing in great detail every single injustice done to these players, ad nauseam. I understand what they were trying to achieve, but it was just way too much detail. I skipped chapters and tens of pages, and would still find myself saying omg can we get on with the story. And it’s worth saying that I’m one of these people who gets bogged down in details, lol, so for me to say this was too detailed is significant.
July 5, 2025
The only reason I finished this book was because I read it a few pages at a time in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep, and that's not a time when I need a high quality book.
This book was a dull and too long recitation of facts about the case followed by an anti-woke (before that was a thing) screed against Duke's 'liberal elites'. I thought the authors placed far too much blame on the reaction of the faculty and the media to the charges when they surely would never have held the opinions they did if it wasn't for Nifong's gross misconduct.
Of course, what happened to these three men was wrong, but this book was a missed opportunity to craft a thoughtful narrative about the history of wrongful accusations and convictions in this country. It was instead an anti-political correctness tirade that felt really tone deaf to a reader in 2025.
This book was a dull and too long recitation of facts about the case followed by an anti-woke (before that was a thing) screed against Duke's 'liberal elites'. I thought the authors placed far too much blame on the reaction of the faculty and the media to the charges when they surely would never have held the opinions they did if it wasn't for Nifong's gross misconduct.
Of course, what happened to these three men was wrong, but this book was a missed opportunity to craft a thoughtful narrative about the history of wrongful accusations and convictions in this country. It was instead an anti-political correctness tirade that felt really tone deaf to a reader in 2025.
November 5, 2017
Excellent Companion Book to It's Not About the Truth
More details were covered in this book, so it was good to read this one in addition to the other book mentioned in my header. So many lessons can be learned from this case. I did think this book went a little long and got somewhat "preachy" towards the end, but it was well worth the read. This book and a documentary called Facing Darkness have completely changed the way I look at any news presented by the media. Things are not always what they seem. Terrific book. I am glad it was written.
More details were covered in this book, so it was good to read this one in addition to the other book mentioned in my header. So many lessons can be learned from this case. I did think this book went a little long and got somewhat "preachy" towards the end, but it was well worth the read. This book and a documentary called Facing Darkness have completely changed the way I look at any news presented by the media. Things are not always what they seem. Terrific book. I am glad it was written.
July 7, 2017
This book made me so, SO angry that something like this could happen in our country. Mike Nifong should be rotting in a jail cell for what he's done to those boys. While details about the rape case invoked many emotions, I struggled to get through some of the ramblings about the university, professors, and election. While I understand the need to include them, I was much more interested in the party, investigation, and the months following the injustice.
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