Library Journal ● "Books and Authors to Know: Titles to Watch 2021" Presumed Guilty reveals how the Supreme Court allows the perpetuation of racist policing by presuming that suspects, especially people of color, are guilty.
Presumed Guilty, like the bestselling The Color of Law, is a "smoking gun" of civil rights research, a troubling history that reveals how the Supreme Court enabled racist policing and sanctioned law enforcement excesses. The fact that police are nine times more likely to kill Black men than other Americans is no accident; it is the result of an elaborate body of doctrines that allow the police and courts to presume that suspects are guilty before being charged.
Demonstrating how the prodefendant Warren Court was a brief historical aberration, Erwin Chemerinsky shows how this more liberal era ended with Nixon's presidency and the ascendance of conservative justices, whose rulings have permitted stops and frisks, limited suits to reform police departments, and even abetted the use of chokeholds. Presumed Guilty concludes that an approach to policing that continues to exalt "Dirty Harry" can be transformed only by a robust court system committed to civil rights.
About the Author :
Erwin Chemerinsky is the dean of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. The author of Presumed Guilty, The Conservative Assault on the Constitution, and The Case Against the Supreme Court, among many other works, he lives in Oakland, California. Perry Daniels is an award-winning, classically trained actor from Atlanta, Georgia, with over a decade of experience on stage, screen, and lurking mysteriously behind the microphone of his home studio. An audiobook junkie and mimic with a love of dialects, Perry strives to bring sincerity, energy, depth, and a focus on performance to his narration.
Review :
"Cogently demonstrates in this book that the court bears much of the blame for police violence and racism in US law enforcement...[with its] prevailing authoritarian, paramilitary, racist approach to policing."
--Library Journal (starred review) "Library Journal (starred review)"
"Erwin Chemerinsky, a national treasure in the field of constitutional law, makes a lucid and compelling case that the Supreme Court has all too often failed to ensure equal justice in the criminal legal system."
--David Cole, national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union "David Cole, national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union"
"Incredibly insightful and powerfully written, Presumed Guilty could not be more timely."
--George Gascón, Los Angeles district attorney "George Gascón, Los Angeles district attorney"
"Lucid explanations of constitutional law and Chemerinsky's deep knowledge of the Supreme Court's inner workings make this an essential contribution to the debate over police reform."
--Publishers Weekly "Publishers Weekly"
"Stunning...He bolsters his argument with examples from his own experiences...It is an eloquent and damning indictment not only of horrific police practices but also of the justices who condoned them and continue to do so."
--New York Times Book Review "New York Times Book Review"
"Suggests that because the Supreme Court will not restrain the police, state courts can and should invoke state constitutions in order to do so. Necessary reading for civil libertarians, public defenders, and activists."
--Kirkus Reviews "Kirkus Reviews"
