Rectify: A Story of Healing and Redemption After Wrongful Conviction

by Lara Bazelon

A powerful argument for adopting a model of restorative justice in wrongful conviction cases as part of legislative efforts towards criminal justice reform and community healing

At the age of seventeen, Thomas Haynesworth was arrested on multiple rape charges in Virginia. Despite his pleas of innocence, five rape victims, including 20 year-old Janet Burke, ID'ed him as the offender. Only after over two decades of legal wrangling was he exonerated by DNA evidence. Conventional wisdom points to an exoneration as a happy ending to tragic tales of injustice like Haynesworth's. However, even when the physical shackles are left behind, invisible ones can be profoundly more difficult to unlock.
In Rectify, former innocence project director and journalist Lara Bazelon takes stock of the massive damage inflicted by wrongful convictions. Despite a record 375 exonerations in the last three years, Bazelon argues that the criminal justice system has not done enough to rectify the devastation left in their wake--the suffering experienced by not only the exoneree, but their families, the crime victims who mistakenly identified them as perpetrators, the jurors who convicted them, and the prosecutors who realized too late that they helped convict an innocent person.
In the midst of her frustration over the blatant limitations of courts and advocates, Bazelon's hope is renewed by the fledgling but growing movement to apply the centuries-old practice of restorative justice to wrongful conviction cases. Using the stories of Thomas Haynesworth, Janet Burke, and other crime victims and exonerees, she demonstrates how the transformative experience of connecting isolated individuals around mutual trauma and a shared purpose of repairing harm unites unlikely allies in the common cause of just reparations. Poignantly written and vigorously researched, Bazelon takes to task the far-reaching failures of our criminal justice system, and offers a window into a future where the power it yields can be used in pursuit of healing and unity rather than punishment and blame.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History, Law, Justice

248 pages, Hardcover

First published October 16, 2018

Reviews

[Dorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rectify:The Power of Restorative Justice After Wrongful Conviction
by Lara Bazelon
2018
Beacon Press, Boston

A wonderfully timely, inspiring and exceptional book that explores the need for restorative justice. If you have not read this book, I highly suggest you do. Bazelon has brought thorough research and much experience to a flawed and misused system that will confine a person with little evidence, and close the case. Bazelon has worked with the criminal justice system and has worked with the wrongfully convicted, or unjustly implicated. She was the director of Project For Innocence in Los Angeles, a free legal services clinic founded by Professor Laurie Levenson, staffed by law students dedicated to freeing the falsely accused. It was inspired by the Innocence Project, a non-profit founded by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld in New York City in 1992.

This book follows the cases of several people who have been wrongfully imprisoned and their struggle and frustrations. First, fighting for belief, then finding support, and finally being exonerated. This process takes years, think about that......

I never realized just how prevalent this is or how often it is based on false confessions and junk science; that 45% of the cases are due to police misconduct and even more on eyewitness accounts. The research on eyewitness accounts are terrifying-anyone can be implicated with no direct evidence, just because someone says you resemble someone, or act like a criminal. The cases in this book exemplify how easily this happens.

The victimization of innocent people and the way these cases are overlooked and marginalized is truly one we need to pay attention to and find ways to correct. The compensation for this varied from state to state; some states offering nothing for their convictions, or the loss of their citizens freedom and reputation; and most people in the communities just don't care.

Absolutely thought provoking and necessary reading. I loved this book.
Thank you to Beacon Press and Jennifer Canela for sharing this ARC with me for review.

[Dindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a frustrating book, the kind that is guaranteed to make me angry, the kind that leads me to believe that our adversarial system of justice is deeply flawed and should be replaced. I just don't know what a better system would be.

The emphasis upon police is to identify a suspect. Any suspect will do, preferably one who is poor. Finding a suspect who is a person of color is even better because white people have a hard time recognizing differences between persons of color. So once the police nab someone, they can close the case and move on to another.

The DA's goal is to get a conviction, not to find the truth. They will pull out all the stops, often quash exculpatory evidence, and even lie to protect their case.

The public defender system is a joke- assuming there even is a group of public defenders, which in many jurisdictions there is not. The funds available to defend the suspect are ridiculously low, severely limiting the number of expert witnesses that can be called. Prosecutors often fail to turn over key evidence to the defense attorney.

So why only 3 stars? Perhaps it's because of my current frame of mind, but I just wasn't able to get into this book. I felt much of the time as though the author were engaging in free thought. The chapters are long, and loosely have a theme, but she seems determined to bring in every single case of someone who has been wrongfully convicted, no matter how loosely it ties to the theme. It simply becomes too much.

How many times can you read about a police officer planting evidence, or continuing to interrogate a suspect even after s/he has requested an attorney?

She'd have been much better off focusing on one or two cases in each chapter rather than trying to throw every case in the US at us.

I may try this again sometime, but I doubt it. I think it would be worthwhile as a training guide for police or as a law school text. But it's a bit too crowded for me to handle.

[Shubh Thakkar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book presents super important arguments advocating for rehabilitative and restorative justice, and it also presents a lot of information on the ways the American criminal justice system targets minorities — particularly Black and Latinx communities across the country. I got a lot out of reading it, and I learned so much from the book, but I do feel that the author could have done a better job synthesizing and organizing evidence and providing analysis.

[Darcia Helle · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Restorative Justice", to me, seems an obvious path to healing our society's rifts, and yet our system remains focused on the kind of punitive "justice" that only keeps cycling people in and out of prisons. Lara Bazelon does an excellent job of showing us exactly how and why restorative justice works to stop the revolving door of recidivism and the instinct toward stereotyping, as well as in honoring the feelings of crime victims.

Bazelon has a narrative writing style that invites us in with a conversation. We meet people who have spent years, often decades, in prison for crimes they did not commit. We also meet the victims who unintentionally helped lock away the wrong people. Both sides suffer profoundly when the system so catastrophically fails.

A common misconception is that people are rarely convicted of a crime they didn't commit. This is a nice fantasy, but certainly not a fact. Innocent people are convicted all the time, and some of them are put to death. Bazelon shares a few of those stories with us, along with an inside view of how this happens.

Where this books stands apart from others like it is in the offering of an accessible, viable, proven solution. Bazelon shows us restorative justice in action. We see that it offers hope and healing in a way retribution does not.

I would love for everyone to read this book.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advanced reader's copy of this book as a part of a Goodreads giveaway.

I found this to be a powerful book that challenged my understanding of our (The United States) Criminal Justice System. The combination of individual stories with statistics drew a striking picture of the raw impact of wrongful convictions as well as their chronic existence across both space and time. It was surprising to learn of the far reaching impact wrongful convictions have on not only those indicted but those responsible for sending an innocent person to prison, especially the victim of the initial crime. This book taught me the mechanisms by which a victim can be 100% confident in their identification of the perpetrator of a crime while that same person is 100% innocent.

The author highlights some specific flaws in our Criminal Justice System. In response, she explains new procedures implemented to improve probabilities of ascertaining the truth. Finally, she explores methods for reconciliation and restoration after such an error has occurred.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is complacent with our Criminal Justice System. We are human; there is always room for improvement.

[Angela Forfia · Rating 4 out of 5]

When we see the exoneration of someone wrongfully convicted of a crime, we think that’s the end of a trauma and the start of a new life. But, for many exonerees, it’s merely the transformation of trauma as they attempt to rejoin their communities, come to terms with years and opportunities lost, and rebuild relationships with their families. For many, this happens with no meaningful support from the state who took away decades of their lives. This book tells those stories, but it also shows how the trauma of wrongful convictions reverberates out to crime victims—who have been traumatized by the initial crime, the trial, and having to come to terms with an exoneration—victims’ families, exonerees’ families, jurors misled by prosecutors, and even prosecutors themselves who were working from tainted evidence. This book also explores the role of restorative justice in helping to heal these shattered relationships, and the most powerful moments are between exonerees and crime victims, healing together. Great read if you want the story that begins after the Innocence Project headlines...with implications for positive policy changes to prevent wrongful conviction, hold police accountable, and support people who are exonerated.

[Chris Boutté · Rating 5 out of 5]

While one of the main focuses of this book is wrongful convictions, it’s so much more than that. Lara Bazelon is a law professor with an extensive background, and she’s passionate about issues with our justice system. Not only does she write about what happens after wrongful convictions, but you learn why they happen in the first place. Bazelon covers the issues with racial biases that lead to wrongful arrests, falses confessions, issues with memory and witness testimony, and much more. You’ll learn the stories of many people who were wrongfully convicted, how it affects them, as well as how it affects the victims. I’ve read a few books on this topic, but Bazelon is the first to really dive into some of the traumas and tragedies that the victims experience when they find out they accused the wrong person.

Something that will catch many off-guard who are unfamiliar with Lara’s work is that she’s a fantastic writer and storyteller. When she tells the stories of various people, it’s written in a way that you don’t find often in non-fiction books like this. She’s also recently released a novel titled A Good Mother, and although I typically stick to non-fiction, I may end up checking this book out as well.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Criminal and law enforcement are made up of people, and people make all kinds of mistakes. The legal system is supposed to make people accountable for their actions when they break the law. Author Bazelon focuses on situations when a person is convicted and held accountable for another’s actions. At the center of the book is Thomas Haynesworth who was convicted in three different trials of rape through circumstantial evidence. Unlike many convicts, it was determined after Haynesworth served more than twenty-five year in prison, he was innocent. The author does a fine job questioning the horrible impact on the innocent convicts, the convict’s family, the victims and their families, and society as a whole. Unfortunately, few answers to wrongful conviction are provided. But the first step is solving a problem is recognizing a problem exists. Endnotes and an index are provided.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read practically any nonfiction accounts of the crime victim experience that I can lay hands on. This stands out as unusually ambitious and original in its perspective. Contrary to the common expectation -- that such victims, who learn the person they believed harmed them was not the perpetrator after all, will remain in denial or collapse in grief that they contributed to an injustice (if they wrongly identified the defendant) -- Bazelon tells the story of a restorative justice movement to help such victims heal through dialog with the wrongly convicted. Both are victims, and both need healing after the harm done to them by a flawed justice system. As sad and frustrating as these cases can be, the book provides hope an inspiration as Bazelon shows us the victim-advocates whose activism is sparked by their double victimization.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wrongful conviction doesn't get righted automatically upon exoneration. This book explores applying the principles of restorative justice to help heal the trauma for the exonerated person, his family, and the witness whose honest mistake put an innocent man behind bars. It also makes a strong case for financial restitution to the wrongly convicted -- surprisingly, this is not a given in many areas, even in the most progressive states.

[Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to admit that I'm a little jealous. Lara Bazelon has written an absolutely amazing book. The book conveys important information about a broken system using compelling narratives and a thorough, cogent description of why the legal system so frequently fails in these cases. It's suitable for both general readers and those deeply vested in criminal system reform and restorative justice. Really, just read it.

[Relena_reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is mostly anecdote, with a few strong examples of restorative justice (for both fair and wrongful convictions) are deployed. I wanted a clearer throughline of what we can do, as the stories were generally already known to me from "Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flome"

[Diana Gower · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a light or easy read but eye-opening. So glad there's a book out there that explains the widespread harm caused by wrongful convictions - to the exonerated, the original crime victim/survivors, their family members, and so many more. Happy to pass this along to anyone.

[Marina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would definitely recommend!

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Restorative justice is a captivating, powerful, and amazing concept. Glad I read this.

[Daniel Medwed · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book from one of the top scholars in the field!

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book to anyone who does not understand what the "fuss" is about over wrongful convictions.

Bazelon explains the inner workings of the justice system in an accessible way and walks the reader through the prosecution process, and the reversal of the convictions, from the perspective of the victims and those who are arrested. She illuminates why it is that we say that wrongful convictions hurt the victims as well as destroy the lives of the people who are imprisoned. The victims don't get what it is that they are seeking from the justice system (although whether they get what they profess to want is questionable too as Bazelon illustrates).

Much of the problem is that undoing a conviction is made difficult, by design of the system, which destroys the lives of the wrongfully convicted, but it also chews up and spits out the victims who have to endure this process right along side the wrongfully convicted.

Bazelon tells stories of people who developed relationships with those they identified wrongfully, and it is very moving to see how (in some instances) they have helped each other move forward. The human faces take the issue out of "conservative" or "liberal" constructs and illustrate the importance of solutions to the problem of wrongful convictions.

Although she's a former criminal defense lawyer, she treats the prosecutors and police with respect, but she points out the incentives working on them to convict anyone to satisfy the community. While she can't answer this question, the book powerfully poses the question about how much is what the community wants justice versus vengeance. And how much is a community going to sacrifice of it's members' lives to satisfy that (very human) need for vengeance?

The criticism I have of the book is that her focus is on victims, so it feels that the problems of the white women (who are most often the victims in these wrongful conviction scenarios) are privileged. She does not ignore the racial issue, but for someone of her insight, I thought the book could have been written in a way that did not fall into that trap.

It does not take away from my overall recommendation. I think anyone who wants to have an informed opinion on how we fix the criminal justice system should read this book.

[Germaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book free and wasn't sure what to expect. I found it very well written and very interesting. My heart really went out to all the victims, those who unjustly incarcerated and the victims themselves when they realized their testimony sent the wrong man to prison. Lara Bazelton did her homework as it was obviously very well researched. She also made me feel as if I knew the people she wrote about. I so feel for each of them. This is an important book that needs to be read.