The Plea of Innocence, Tim Bakken
The Plea of Innocence, Tim Bakken
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
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The Plea of Innocence
Restoring Truth to the American Justice System

Author: Tim Bakken

Narrator: Gary Bennett

Unabridged: 7 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 12/27/2022


Synopsis

The Plea of Innocence offers a fundamental reform of the adversarial system: plausibly innocent people may now plead innocent and require the government to search for exonerating facts; in return, they will be required to waive their right to remain silent, speak to government agents, and participate in a search for truth.

While almost all the participants within the system hope that only guilty people will be convicted, the unfortunate reality is that innocent people are convicted and imprisoned at an alarming rate. With the privatization of defense institutions, accused innocent people are themselves responsible for finding the facts that could exonerate them. Though the poor are represented by public defenders— almost no one who is charged with a crime has enough money to pay for a complete defense—it is still accused people, not public officials, who bear the entire burden of proving their innocence.

Tim Bakken believes that reform of the three-hundred-year-old adversarial system is overdue, and that the government should be responsible for searching for truth rather than being satisfied with due process. Featuring compelling evidence and concrete steps for reform, The Plea of Innocence is at once sensible and revolutionary, a must-listen for anyone invested in restoring truth to the justice system.

About Tim Bakken

Tim Bakken is the first civilian promoted to professor of law at West Point, the United States Military Academy. He practiced law in New York City, including as a prosecutor in Brooklyn (Kings County District Attorney's office). His most recent book is The Cost of Loyalty: Dishonesty, Hubris, and Failure in the U.S. Military.


Reviews

Goodreads review by David on August 28, 2022

The criminal justice system in the USA is a minefield, a quicksand pit and a haunted gothic horror. It has been built like an old farmhouse, with new rooms and wings attached all over the main structure, so that no one even remembers where the original front door was. Into this morass steps the fear......more

Goodreads review by Jeff on October 08, 2022

An Interesting Proposal. Bakken is a clearly knowledgeable and frequent writer of this field, and I'm certainly far from being anywhere near his level - so I'll not directly debate his points in this review. Instead, this is absolutely a book that I think anyone who is interested in reforming the Am......more