Conviction Machine, Harvey A. Silverglate
Conviction Machine, Harvey A. Silverglate
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Conviction Machine
Standing Up to Federal Prosecutorial Abuse

Author: Harvey A. Silverglate, Sidney Powell, Adriana Hunter

Narrator: Tanya Eby

Unabridged: 4 hr 52 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/27/2020


Synopsis

In 2009, Harvey A. Silverglate, a prominent criminal defense and civil liberties lawyer, published his landmark critique of the federal criminal justice system, Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent. In 2014, Sidney Powell, a former federal prosecutor in three districts under nine United States Attorneys from both political parties and who has been lead counsel in 500 federal appeals, published her landmark indictment of the system, Licensed To Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice, after she witnessed appalling abuses by prosecutors—more than a decade after she entered private practice. Now these two leading authorities combine their knowledge and experience to describe the problems within the Department of Justice and in the federal courts—and to offer solutions.

Together, Powell and Silverglate shine a light on the defects of the system: overzealous prosecutors, perjury traps, negligent judges, perverse limits on self-defense, vague and overabundant criminal statutes, insufficient requirements for criminal intent, and no accountability for prosecutors. Most important, they provide a much-needed blueprint for reforming the Department of Justice and the criminal justice system, including actions an average citizen can take to help restore justice.

About Harvey A. Silverglate

Harvey A. Silverglate is counsel to Boston's Zalkind, Rodriguez, Lunt & Duncan LLP, specializing in criminal defense, civil liberties, and academic freedom/student rights law. He is cofounder and chairman of FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) and is a regular columnist for the Boston Phoenix. Silverglate has been published in the National Law Journal, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times Book Review, and elsewhere. He is author of The Shadow University with Alan Charles Kors.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Rob on June 13, 2020

Prosecutors can “indict a ham sandwich,” and we all laugh at the absurdity. Yet the joke captures a truth: federal prosecutors wield enormous power over all of us. The federal criminal justice system is so stacked in favor of the government that shocking numbers of innocent people have been sent to......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on August 18, 2020

Harvey Silverglate teams up with Sidney Powell to write an excellent and thought provoking critique of the US Justice System. The authors provide well thought out reforms that are common sense and should be roundly supported by all. In fact, it's shocking that many of their suggestions aren't curren......more

Goodreads review by Kayla on July 07, 2023

This book was so fascinating to me. It breaks down how the CIA and FBI often use "unfavorable" tactics to get a conviction on someone. How they use words and manipulation to get what they want. It also goes into how both parties are helping steer the future of the US in the way that the leaders seem......more

Goodreads review by Jeff on May 21, 2022

Find out what we can do to help curtail the overreaching and quite often vastly unjust conviction machine. What we can do to eliminate lopsided prosecutorial misconduct and false confessions and convictions, and the unfair advantage of the unlimited power of government in locking up way too many cit......more

Goodreads review by John on July 11, 2023

I have seen prosecutorial abuse firsthand. I observed a close personal friend suffer through the mindless machinations of an unjust and inappropriate prosecution, conviction, and incarceration. This book rings true. I recommend it without reservation.......more