Book Review: Bergman, P., & Berman-Barrett, S. J. (2006). The Criminal Law Handbook: Know Your Rights, Survive the System (8th ed.). Berkeley, CA: Nolo. 621 pp

• DOI: 10.1177/0734016807304837
• Published date: 01 September 2007
• Author: Marilyn L. Bardie Kapaun
• Date: 01 September 2007
• Subject Matter: Articles

Courtroom 302 enlightens us about how Supreme Court decisions are flouted in the

criminal court system every day. Gerstein probable-cause-to-arrest hearings are done in the

seconds that it takes to call the docket name for the defendant, as the judge merely skims

the arrest report and affirms the officer’s decision. Batson objections that categorically for-

bid attorneys from using their preemptory challenges to exclude potential jurors on the

basis of race are overlooked. The Batson decision requires the judge to ask the opponent

for race-neutral reasons for dismissing the juror when a lawyer complains of a racial strike.

Bogira confirms Justice Marshall’s prediction that lawyers would simply make up specious

justifications for their racial strikes. Bogira reports how Judge Locallo “perfunctorily does

his [Batson] duty” (p. 262), and although Locallo knows the grounds given may be con-

trived, he uncritically agrees to them, mechanically accepting blatantly hollow reasons for

the juror’s exclusion.

Most courtrooms in metropolitan cities are swamped with nonviolent drug offenders.

They are snowed under with poor Black people who cannot make minimal bail. Their pub-

lic defenders have unmanageable caseloads, so they rarely visit them and often have to rely

on a brief talk in the lockup on the day of their courtroom appearance. Deputies Laura

Rhodes and Gil Guerrero spend their day ushering prisoners between the lockup and the

courtroom. As most experienced courtroom observers already know, the deputies think,

It’s all just a game, to everyone involved. For the defendant it’s I can beat this case, or I can

get this deal. For the judges, it’s the big dispo race. I don’t think they really care whether the

defendant is innocent or guilty—it’s how many defendants they can plead out. (p. 91)

The theory of rehabilitation is nowhere to be found.

The vast majority of defendants are too poor to retain private counsel. Negotiated pleas

account for the overwhelming number of the cases. Deputy Guerrero acknowledges that it

is like a garage sale. Everyone makes deals. Bargain sentences are exchanged for guilty

pleas. The customary guideline appears to be how effectively and swiftly pleas can be nego-

tiated. The defendants who refuse to plead face excessive prison time if found guilty.

Troublesome questions of guilt or innocence are replaced with the more imperative daily

matters of expedience and efficiency. Fairness may carry some weight, but for the most part

the prevailing impression that Bogira conveys is that “justice miscarries every day” (p. 22).

Luck, it appears, is often the deciding factor.

Mel Gutterman

Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia

Bergman, P., & Berman-Barrett, S. J. (2006). The Criminal

Law Handbook: Know Your Rights, Survive the System (8th ed.).

Berkeley, CA: Nolo. 621 pp.

DOI: 10.1177/0734016807304837

The better educated one is about the criminal justice system, the more likely one will

receive quality legal services. However, many defendants do not realize that their case

Book Reviews 287