Book Review: False Justice: Eight Myths That Convict the Innocent

• Author: Ellen F. Chayet
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016811420709
• Published date: 01 June 2012
• Date: 01 June 2012
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

This void is central theoretically and critically, and speaks to what Debating Restorative Jus-

tice seeks to address contrasted with what it can address. Basically, the extant knowledge base

overwhelmingly features restorative justice as practiced, or supported, by statutory agencies. But

many find restorative justice attractive because it calls for a different way of thinking about

crimes, about malicious or negligent harms, and about how we respond to them. Our authors cor-

rectly and aptly call advocates to task for having overclaimed, but that does not invalidate the

aspirations necessary for building a genuine liberation movement. It does not reduce restorative

justice to a normative theory.

Instead, as Dennis Sullivan and Larry Tifft discuss in their essential text, Restorative Justice:

Healing the Foundations of Our Everyday Lives, the structural critique and the communitarian prac-

tice come together in daily practices throughout our lives, in the home, the workplace, schools, the

neighborhood, and not just, and not primarily in mobilizing the police and the courts. If we took such

suggestions seriously, we would look for a host of mundane, informal, nonprogrammatic restorative

practices. Presumably, they take place every day around the world. Have they grown significantly as

a result of the contemporary restorative justice movement? Probably not. But if we seek to probe the

potential for building a social movement for social and economic justice, we should be looking for

and nurturing such behavior and spirit.

Instead, Hoyle and Cunneen, like the rest of us are left to deal with what we have documented

and measured and reproduced. That means an inherent bias toward formal programs, often statu-

tory. Yet, that is not the framework for change imagined by critical restorative justice visionaries.

But Hoyle and Cunneen have done well with what we have. Indeed, near the end of each essay,

they even highlight the fundamental role of informal processes, as in Cunneen’s noting the truth and

reconciliation commission in Timor Leste and community-based/activist-engaged projects in North-

ern Ireland. Lacking a debate, their book nevertheless provides what a good debate should: a

thoughtful and productive exploration of various sides of an important issue. Cuneen’s sharp chal-

lenges and Hoyle’s bold recommendations provide fodder for discussion in advanced restorative

justice and advanced criminology/criminal justice courses. Several points of conflict between their

viewpoints can give students and professors much to work with. The book also should add to

ongoing reexamination and reflection in the restorative justice movement.

J. Petro and N. Petro

False Justice: Eight Myths That Convict the Innocent New York, NY: Kaplan Publishing, 2010.

xii, 336pp. $24.99. ISBN 978-1607144670

Reviewed by: Ellen F. Chayet, St. Thomas Aquinas College, Sparkill, NY, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0734016811420709

A foundation of the American criminal justice system is that justice is rendered for criminal

wrongdoers; a related belief is that punishing the innocent is rare and wholly unacceptable. False

Justice: Eight Myths that Convict the Innocent is a narrative of a personal and professional journey

that parallels a significant recognition by the American legal system—not all convicted and impri-

soned offenders are guilty. Authors Jim Petro, former Ohio attorney general, and Nancy Petro

examine the myriad of reasons why innocent people are serving time and document the growing

application of DNA analysis to postconviction relief. While these intertwined narratives affirm the

exonerative value of forensic evidence, the authors offer an important corollary observa tion: over-

whelmingly, biological evidence does not exist. Arguably, we can infer that inestimable numbers

remain incarcerated without recourse to forensic redress. Consequently, preventing and correcting

Book Reviews 265