(originally posted on September 6, 2009)
My chief complaint is that I wish the book had been longer, because the 250-odd pages of carefully reported and researched accounts into exactly how the American justice system fails far too many people are absolutely brilliant. From the crushing case backlog of Greene County to the insidious failures in Troy, N.Y., to other courthouses all across the country, Bach illustrates how justice depends on deals, plea-bargains, and settling for mediocrity - and devastatiingly, shows how every cog in the justice wheel is complicit. What is to be done? Bach has some ideas (and some positive results on a micro level) but the changes needed must be massive and sweeping to be anywhere near effective.
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