Juror Number 2: The Story of a Murder, the Agony of a Neighborhood

by Efrem Sigel

This riveting memoir recounts the author’s experience on a jury in a murder trial and his subsequent investigation of the conditions in East Harlem that led young people to be involved in drug-selling and criminal activity. Besides the trial itself, the book is the story of the failures in NYCHA housing projects, the schools and the criminal justice system, and the efforts of a handful of educators, nonprofit leaders and criminal justice reformers to find pathways to success for these young people.

In the author's words, "As a juror in a criminal trial, your vote is one of 12 determining whether the accused goes free or is punished. When the charge is murder, you never forget that a decision to convict can take away his liberty for the rest of his life. I had thought that our jury’s vote at the conclusion of the trial would be the end of the story. But I was mistaken. For me the jury verdict was only the beginning."

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published November 13, 2020

Reviews

[♥ Sandi ❣]

3 stars Thanks to The Writer's Press and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC. Publishes November 16, 2020

I enjoyed about three quarters of this book. It started with the first 9 chapters involved in a murder trial - from jury selection through the sentencing of a convicted murderer. The very last two of the 15 chapters brought to date and summed up the lives of the people involved, including all of the jurors. The rest of the book, 4 long and exhausting chapters were a wash.

This is a non-fiction book, and as I said, I enjoyed the trial and after thoughts which comprised 11 chapters. The rest of the book was very exhausting. This author changed from reporting a murder trial to wearisome facts about the New York, proper, educational system. I understand that he was blaming the educational system, along with the police department and housing development assistance, for the plight of young criminals. However his explanation and conclusion went into detail about individual schools - a number of individual schools, right down to good principals and bad principals. Exhausting is the only word for those 4 long drawn out chapters. I would rather have had an 11 chapter book about the trial with a short summary of his findings, than to slog through those 4 chapters of facts and comparisons of NYC schools.

This is probably an author that I will not pick back up again unless recommended by a person who knows my likes and dislikes in a book. It only took those 4 long chapters to ruin, what had been to that point, a pretty good book.

[Valerity (Val)]

This book was easy to get into, as I like books about court trials most of the time anyway, and I enjoyed the author’s perspective on this case and the different people involved in it. You could tell that he was way more involved in it than most people, although going through that would affect anyone, really. I took a class on courts as an older teen that required us to go to a nearby courthouse where we sat in on part of a murder trial, and I found it fascinating. It’s stuck with me ever since.

The author, Efrem Sigel, cannot leave the trial behind him afterward. He embarks on a mission to learn about the places and systems involved in the case and starts frequenting them to see what he can learn about how they prepare children or don’t. Advance electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Efrem Sigel, and the publisher.

[Alexa]

I had a hard time with this one. The first part is about a trail of a hand related crime and the author's experience as a juror. The secondary part was about the author's take on why these crimes happen to begin with. Where does the person's life begin to shift towards the path that leads them down the wrong path and who's fault is it? The author has many ideas from which I agree and disagree.

[Alexa]

I had a hard time with this one. The first part is about a trail of a hand related crime and the author's experience as a juror. The secondary part was about the author's take on why these crimes happen to begin with. Where does the person's life begin to shift towards the path that leads them down the wrong path and who's fault is it? The author has many ideas from which I agree and disagree.

[Randal White]

The author recounts his experience as a juror in a murder trial in New York City. Affected by the trial, he then follows up afterwards by visiting the murder scene, interviewing police, the victim's families, housing authorities and education professionals.
I found the story to be interesting, and easy to read. I wish the author would have went into more detail about the trial itself. I admired his diligence into trying to understand how the murder could have happened in the first place.

[Natalie "Curling up with a Coffee and a Kindle" Laird]

This was definitely a book of two halves. I LOVED the first part, detailing the court case and the jury deliberations. I love legal thrillers so to see first hand experience of how a jury comes to a decision was fascinating to me.
However, the second part went to a different place, clearly blaming the education system for teenagers getting involved with gangs and violence. Although it was heavily researched, the author didn't take much into account about the men's upbringing and family life, which I believe are huge factors that need to be considered also.

[Sarah - All The Book Blog Names Are Taken]

I'm not sure how to take the whole comment near the very end of the book on 'supposed white privilege', seeing as how white privilege is very much a thing. Up until then this was an interesting read. Full review to come.

[Angie]

I loved the idea of this book, and if you are involved in improving education and young people's life chances in New York, then this might be an eye-opening and enlightening read.

The book starts out discussing the crime committed, the gangs and people involved, and the court case. That was quite interesting. The book then moves on to discussing differences between local schooling and results attained. This part dragged quite a bit - as it wasn't that relevant to me.

It then moved on to what the author discovered, and the charities and groups who are trying to change the system. For me, the book just petered out after the court case, and I read through the last half of it very quickly.

I haven't studied the subject in depth before, but I didn't feel that I learned anything from this book - only about the names and locations of the best and worst performing schools in New York. If that is your area of interest, it will be a good read. But otherwise? I think there must be better books out there about how poor education and upbringing is failing our young communities.

[Marcia Crabtree]

The memoir, Juror Number 2: The Story of a Murder, The Agony of a Neighborhood, by Efrem Sigel is the gripping tale of Efrem’s experience as a juror in a trial involving a horrific double murder, borne from the poverty and neglect children experience growing up in the projects in New York’s Harlem district and the failure of the educational system in the area. After the trial Efrem researched and interviewed people associated with the projects, the school system, the government, the police, and several philanthropic organizations created to alleviate the problems. The book is in turn compelling, disturbing, engaging, and, at times, boring. While most of the book is a page turning, interesting read, it gets bogged down in the middle with too many numbers and statistics regarding the performance of various schools and certain levels of math and language proficiency. I would simply have preferred more descriptive language so as to make it read more smoothly and easily, like the rest of the book.

[Philip Pechukas]

This is an extraordinary account, half memoir of Sigel's month as juror in the trial of a man accused of two gang-related murders more than a decade earlier, half investigative journalism as Sigel subsequently spends many months in East Harlem with people who influence the lives of the young men who grow up in that tough New York neighborhood. Sigel finds a few remarkably successful schools run by saints who talk to him in fascinating detail about how they do it; the NYC Housing Authority, on the other hand, gets very bad notice; the cops, and the criminal justice system in general, struggle with the challenges of East Harlem, usually in earnest but not always with success.
Sigel's project certainly put him in some personal danger; he does not dwell on it. What comes through instead is the deep empathy with which he conducted his interviews and the clarity with which he writes about them. A terrific work.

[Kaveri BibliophileRants]

"Juror Number 2" is a cross between true crime and memoir and details on the author's experience on serving on the jury on a gang-war related case and afterward researching more on what prompts people to take such a decision. This was a short and very informative read. The writing was empathetic and really takes the reader along the journey in the story. The first half was on his experiences in the jury and it was a very realist portrayal of what goes on. As a person who has generally encountered juries as a part of legal dramas and thrillers, this was a pleasant change to read. The second half was extremely informative and the hard facts shows the sobering reality.
I really found this a fascinating read and a short one; it was tough to continue at times but was so worth it.

Many thanks to NetGally, The Writers' Press and the author Efrem Sigel for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Iris Berke]

A thought-provoking, timely (given the current upheaval in our country), description of a “brutal and senseless murder in East Harlem,” (author’s words) and a probing analysis of the root causes of crime and social unrest. Sigel volunteered to serve on the jury in order to be able to write about the trial from a juror’s perspective. The experience led him to question WHY the crime happened. He digs deep to probe many factors that added up to the situation, choices made by the individuals involved, and the broader role of institutions such as the NY City Housing Authority, Police Department, the school system, and non-profits in supporting or hindering success of the neighborhood residents. His conclusion is particularly pertinent today: “Change…demands both urgency and patience, the urgency to begin today, the patience to engage in trial and error, recognizing that there is no quick fix for social pathologies that have been decades in the making.” P. 138.

[Georgina]

If you're interested in the American justice system then this book is definitely for you.
It explores what leads youngsters to take the wrong path, whose to blame? Could society do more? It also explains the role of the jury, how they get selected and all thats involved in their selection, and the difficult decisions they have to make, at the end of the day, someone's guilt or innocence is in their hands.

It was quite a heavy read, and admittedly not my usual type of read but none-the-less very thought provoking and I am glad I read it. I have recommended it to a few friends who I believe would enjoy it and at least one has pre-ordered it. Please dont get me wrong, it was an enjoyable and interesting read but for me one I kept having to pick up and put down again to be able to appreciate it and the subjects it raised properly

[Eliska]

I was really looking forward to starting to read this book because I have never read anything from a juror's viewpoint before. However, my excitement vanished when I started to read. I didn't feel like there was enough information about the case, and the second half of the book completely lost me. Don’t get me wrong, these details are fascinating and very important in explaining the criminality rate and why and how kids get into crime. But for someone from Europe with next to zero knowledge of New York, the second part won’t be interesting at all. You will find it interesting only if you have a pre-existing interest in the issue, however, it will lead to a casual reader losing interest in the book.

[Jberryk]

I think this is a remarkable book. I was interested in the author’s follow-through after the trial into the backgrounds and neighborhood of the suspect and witnesses. We have all read about the terrible condition of the public housing stock and bad schools in some poor neighborhoods. But the book’s description of the neighborhood, relationships, and depressing life experiences of these boys/men is truly compelling. And the author’s investigations into the problems facing the public housing system and local school administrators are very insightful. I think the book should be required reading for the City’s public officials.

[William Hudgins]

An excellent book, both it's description of the murder itself and the experience of being a juror and trying to sort out the information as it is presented. However, the strength of the book is the recognition that it is not all over when the jury reaches a verdict, but there's a backstory and a post story. I felt that Mr. Sigel did an excellent job of interviewing the various government and private agencies which take responsibility for this section of East Harlem. I don't think he showed that anyone was asleep at he wheel, rather the issue of poverty is enormous and there are dedicated people who choose to work in this environment to mitigate in some small way its effects

[Deb]

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of Juror Number 2. Have you ever wondered if society is causing underprivileged kids to become criminals? Lack of education, lack of safe housing, lack of support.... The author wondered about these questions after serving on a jury for a double murder. It’s a short read with a lot of facts about NYC’s educational system, crime rates, public housing and social programs. I found his jury experience very intriguing but all the facts and numbers after the trial drug a bit for me. If you are a numbers person, you’ll love this book.

[Deb]

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of Juror Number 2. Have you ever wondered if society is causing underprivileged kids to become criminals? Lack of education, lack of safe housing, lack of support.... The author wondered about these questions after serving on a jury for a double murder. It’s a short read with a lot of facts about NYC’s educational system, crime rates, public housing and social programs. I found his jury experience very intriguing but all the facts and numbers after the trial drug a bit for me. If you are a numbers person, you’ll love this book.

[Helen]

This is not just the recounting of the experience of being on the jury in a murder trial, it goes much deeper than that. Looking at the background of the defendant, family circumstances, housing situation, educational opportunities and lack of choices.
From mayoral level the funding, school choices funding and role models. The choices to become a gang member and the routes that can and will take you.
A very important piece of writing that needs to be taken note of not just in the US but the same applies to certain sectors of the UK population.

[Pam Devine]

This was a book of two halves for me. The first half is about a trial and why the crime was committed. The second was about reform programs in NY. The second half, while very credible actions, lost me a bit. I've never been to America and I struggle to visualise or understand some of the aspects of the programs. That being said the fact that the author was prepared to go beyond the crime and the trial and look into the backgrounds of the victims and the criminals, and to look at how things could change for the better. A commendable approach.

[RALPH T]

Juror Number 2 is two books in one, nicely woven together magnifying the impact of each. First it is a fast moving drama as Sigel relates the intrigue of a murder trial. The lucky reader is then swept into the organizations and personalities that succeed and fail as they attempt to save at least some of the youth drawn, pushed, pulled into the world of drugs. The book is at first exciting; then informative, thought provoking, and sobering.

[Louise Gray]

Compelling. The story would be interesting solely on the basis of the trial as recounted from the perspective of the juror. Add to that the compulsion to then explore how and why society may have contributed to the creation of criminality and the book reaches a new level. Wonderfully written, the language is descriptive and respectful.

[Ian Kayanja]

This book describes a brutal crime and the process of conviction. The author then goes on this path of discovery, where he arrives at pretty stereotypical solutions to crime with really no unheralded approach. It was a dry read. The author really hates when people talk about “white privilege” as well.

[Caroline David]

Such an interesting and well-written look into a juror's observance of a trial. the retelling of the trial, and a juror so moved by what happened that he needed to know more and do more. It was super enlightening and a timely read.

[Sharon Glazer]

This is a very fine book about the author's experience as a juror in a murder trial, and about his subsequent investigation into how structural changes to anti-poverty programs can make a difference for individuals and their neighborhoods.

[Gregory Durant]

This is badly edited. Disjointed. It puts much of the blame on the NYC Department of Education for “failing schools” without once taking into consideration the environment of “home” that a parent or guardian makes.

[Dilven]

I would give this book a 2.5 star rating. The court room etiquette and filtering for the right jurors could have been a bit more researched. There was not enough detail about the defendants background & how he ended up where he was. Also I didn't like the ending.

[Cindee]

I tried so hard to like this book; the premise is great. It fell flat for me.

[Leanne]

Love the concept of this book. Some parts really dragged for me , and I felt it hard to read at times.

[Peter W. Mattingly]

Excellent look at what life is like for young men growing up in the inner city and the few support mechanisms available to them. Not a happy story, but it is an important message for all of us.