JUSTICE DENIED. Clemency Appeals in Death Penalty Cases

Softcover. SIGNED. A book which delves into the difficult questions surrounding the heated public and legal debate about a criminal justice system that risks the state-sanctioned killing of an innocent person. Focusing on executive clemency petitions, the final hope for death row inmates, the author exposes troubling flaws in the legal process of administering the death penalty. Her in-depth examination of all of the 50 petitions presented to the governors of Missouri since the state reinstated capital punishment in 1977, shows in dramatic detail, how the machinery of justice oftens fails the condemned and their victims alike. Skillfully interweaving her investigation with compelling case studies, the author illuminates the mistakes and miscarriages of justice common in death penalty convictions: police misconduct and false-testimony, overzealous prosecution, ineffective defence counsel, judicial prejudice, and state and federal appellate reviews that increasingly neglect the protection of individual rights. She also probes the decision-making process in evaluating clemency petitions showing how political and other persuasive forces, from the media to the pope, limit a governor's ability to act as a reliable fail-safe to capital punishment. The powerful stories included here uncover a trail of injustices that will give pause to anyone struggling with the legal and moral dilemmas of the death penalty. With List of Tables, Appendices, Notes, Glossary, Bibliog. and Index. 251pp. 8vo. softcover. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. F.