Wow! This book is fantastic. I had to do some research on the subway system, so I dragged myself over to the library and grudgingly checked out a couple of books, figuring I would read them in small installments over the course of several weeks. Luckily for me, I opened this book first. I finished half of it before I went to bed that night. The mixture of personal life-stories, fascinating details and a great writing style makes this one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read.

Surprise! Here's a book that not only intrigues with impressionistic detail of the New York City transit system, but that also provides a valuable lesson into how the most complex city in the U.S. lives and breathes. I took it with me on jury duty and it more than carried me through the tedium of long hours of nothingness with my peers. Jim Dwyer has X-ray vision when it comes to looking at the inner workings of the Big Apple.

This book isn't really specific as to the locations of gold in the Lake Superior area, but rather allows the reader to explore the area and hopefully find gold. It's a short book that can be read in a few hours and will at least enlighten you on the geology and small-time prospecting of gold.

Any amateur looking to get started in the field of prospecting. It doesn't tell them where to look but more how to look. Coming from a family of gold prospecters. His dad, John N. Dwyer who wrote Summer gold. This book is great for anyone who wants to learn how to prospect, or anyone looking for a great book

The book details the history of ten cases of men who served years in prison for crimes committed by others, and were eventually exonerated by DNA technology. It also touches briefly on perhaps a hundred other cases. As human interest, it is compelling. As an insight into the "system" it is chilling.

How do innocent citizens get convicted of crimes they had nothing to do with? It's easier than you might think. Police rig photo line-ups to induce a witness identification, and then reinforce tentative IDs until they become positive. In court, they simply lie in order to give justice a little push in the right direction. Laboratories - dependent on police and prosecutors for business - fudge or falsify forensic tests to help out their client. Prosecutors withhold exculpatory evidence from the defense, and use testimony they know to be untrustworthy without checking it out. (The prevailing ethic seems to be that they haven't done anything wrong unless they *know* it to be false. One prosecutor used the "jailhouse confession" testimony of a witness to put a defendant on death row, even though a man put on death row by nearly identical testimony from that same witness had been exonerated and released.) Governors drag their feet in granting pardons to men whom DNA tests have conclusively proven to be innocent. (A prisoner in Oklahoma remained incarcerated for 6 years after DNA lab results had exonerated him.)

Defense lawyers -- usually working for very low pay -- often don't bother to vigorously challenge prosecution witnesses. They don't investigate to verify their client's story, or to locate and present solid alibi witnesses. Many have an astonishing faith in the police and prosecutors, and suppose that their client wouldn't have been charged if he wasn't guilty. They pressure their clients to accept a plea bargain, and become so miffed at their refusal that they refuse to prepare them for the witness stand. Theatrics is poor substitute for preparation.

Only a small sampling of criminal cases involve biological evidence. If it is a fair random sample, then a large number of innocent people whose convictions can never be overturned by DNA are in prison, and new ones are convicted every year. DNA exonerations are a only a window into a system afflicted with very deep rot.

The book contains many common sense suggestions for improvement. At the heart of many of them is accountability. Police and prosecutors run essentially no chance of getting caught for fabricating evidence or falsifying testimony. Once convicted and in prison, the defendants are buried there. The system is presumed to have worked properly, and the possibility that the wrongdoing will ever come to light is practically nil. Even when they do get caught, thyere are no consequences to them personally. Prosecutors don't prosecute each other or bring charges against witnesses who have testified for the state. And the law gives broad civil immunity to police officers. Almost none of the police officers, perjured witnesses, or prosecutors involved in the book's cases was punished.

The advent of DNA took the system by surprise, and shined an unexpected light on the rot. Officials were surprised and perhaps embarrassed, despite their pronouncements to the contrary. When a building collapses, or a hospital patient undergoes the wrong operation, or an airplane crashes, there is an investigation. People are disciplined and procedures are changed to prevent a recurrence. In the analogous disaster for the criminal justice system -- the wrongful conviction of an innocent person -- the system confidently affirms that it did everything right.

We are in the golden age of DNA exonerations. The window is open to public scrutiny and the possibility of reform. But we are approaching the day when we will have exonerated all of the wrongfully imprisoned who can be exonerated by DNA -- everyone whose case evidence has not been degraded, lost, or destroyed. The word is out in the law enforcement community to be on good behavior if a new case is among that small minority where there is biological evidence. As to all others, the old rules still apply. The public is more acutely aware than it has ever been of how many innocent people are sent to prison, and of just how impervious the system is to self-correction. Once the DNA exonerations cease, that awareness will fade. The window to reform will close and the opportunity will be gone.

No human system can be perfect. There will always be mistakes. But they should be honest mistakes. The system should be on guard against them, and be as willing to exonerate the innocent as it is to convict the guilty. This book is absolute must reading for everyone who believes that "justice" is not a synonym for "punishment".

As a former prosecutor, ACTUAL INNOCENCE really disturbed me - not because I disagree with its suggestion that innocents are on death row and in prison (and have been executed) - but because IT IS STILL HAPPENING. It is impossible to argue with Scheck, Nuefiled and Dwyer's carefully documented (and very readable)conclusions - each chapter tells a new story about a convicted inmate eventually set free based on DNA evidence. Each story highlights a theme that pervades the American criminal justice system - be it race, unreliable eyewitness identifications, junk science, police misconduct, etc. - so you get a history of American legal development without even realizing it. The bottom line is that DNA evidwence is setting people free AND exposing the awful practices that have put innocent people in prison and on death row. This should make the reader consider: How many innocent people have ALREADY died in prison, or in the electric chair, before DNA testing was available. And why are state officials so reluctant to accept DNA testing in many cases? A credit to the authors is that they never resort to preachy rhetoric or sarcasm as they present the compelling facts demonstrating rampant error in the criminal justice system. As it turns out, the authors don't need to preach. The facts alone scream louder than any commentary could.

There is no more crucial time to read this book. The authors detail their work with DNA evidence in wrongful conviction cases through the Innocence Project at Cardozo Law School in New York. Typically, these are criminal cases which were tried prior to the type of DNA technology we currently possess. What this book brings to light though, is that for every conviction where actual innocence is later proven via DNA evidence, there are likely countless more situations of wrongful conviction where such evidence does not exist. Wrongful conviction is a serious problem in our criminal justice system today, as the State of Illinois demonstrates. Since reinstituting the death penalty, Illinois has executed twelve people and has released seventeen from death row due to later findings of actual innocence. Scheck's work is impressive and necessary, and this book offers an excellent portrayal of it.

The authors belong to the "Innocence Project", an organized attempt to determine the innocence or guilt through recently available DNA evidence of those convicted of murder/violent crimes. In over 80 cases the were able to _prove_ the innocence of the wrongly convicted, many on death row.

This book results from that project and outlines in each chapter some of the failures of the justice system in these cases including the unreliability of eyewitnesses, incompentant defense lawyers, poor laws and more. The book is straightforwardly written and very easy reading. It is also a strong indictment against our current justice system. Unlike many 'critical' books, the authors also offer suggestions for changes that would help improve our justice system and lower the number of the wrongly convicted.

This book has gotten me to think so much about our system of justice and the ramifications, that we have decided to us it as a book in our family book club and I view some experiences now through the prism of this book (recent experience with hearing two very different stories from two people of the same exact event). That a book has affected the way I percieve things is a mark of a good book.

The one criticism I have of the book is that there is not enough supporting evidence. Though I know the focus of the book is what they had learned from the Innocence Project and not a research survey, I would like to have seen more collaborative statistics and references in each chapter (perhaps an appendix with a few studies and further reading would have been welcome).

Still, it is an important and interesting book and well worth reading.

Is there anything more frightening then the conviction of an innocent person? It can happen to anyone and this book shows the ineptitude of our legal system and the frequency with which false convictions occur.

This book, comprised of a myriad of criminal cases, is one of the most compelling and fast-paced books you will ever read. If it you don't find yourself with a renewed sense of conviction regarding justice and truth in the legal system, then you might consider checking for a pulse.

Given the recent advances in pathology, forensics and DNA, "Actual Innocence" should be required reading. Clear and concise, this book will appeal to everyone from housewife to lawyer alike. Truly one of the most important works written in recent years.

As a reader of at least ten books on wrongful conviction and an advocate for the wrongfully convicted, this book is definitely the best mass-produced resource on wrongful convictions.

This book is the most comprehensive look at the causes of wrongful convictions and the benefits of DNA testing. It is also a compelling book that uses real stories and makes you question whatever you think you knew about the criminal justice system and its "infallibility."

Other reviews on Amazon.com for this book say that it is boring and slow moving. I really don't think these reviewers read the same book that I did. I guess maybe these readers were expecting an intiguing story with a cliffhanger at the end. I think that the book does provide that and more, it just happens that real life is scarier than fiction.