Anatomy of Innocence: Testimonies of the Wrongfully Convicted

A collection of first-person accounts from individuals who were wrongfully arrested and convicted. Told to mystery and true crime writers such as Lee Child, Sara Paretsky, and Jan Burke, these stories highlight the defects in the police, investigative, and legal system that lead to the prosecution and incarceration of innocent people. Themes such as false confessions, mishandled evidence, and, in highly publicized cases, the desire to quickly finger a suspect rather than find the actual criminal run through the work. Each chapter describes a case (for instance, in 1973, Peter Reilly was arrested for allegedly killing his mother), explains how the individual was exonerated, provides background on the author, and features an editors' note with statistics on false convictions. The brutal reality of police torture and prison life is addressed matter-of-factly. Information on the Innocence Project and member groups by state is appended. Black-and-white photographs of the people profiled are included, along with an update on their lives since exoneration.