Author Jessica Henry Discusses Wrongful Convictions

Jessica Henry, author of the book Smoke But No Fire - Convicting the Innocent of Crimes that Never Happened, drops by to discuss the book's topic; people convicted of crimes that never happened. You read that right; people are often convicted of crimes that never took place, and many have served years in prison and have had their lives ruined in a Kafkaesque nightmare. If you think this cannot happen in our criminal justice system, think again. It happens. It happens a lot.

In this podcast, Jessica talks about the ways that people often fall prey to a combination of overly ambitious prosecutors, corrupt police officers, lying witnesses, questionable accusers, invalid forensic evidence and indifferent defense lawyers. She also makes a number of powerful suggestions on how we might fix the system to prevent such atrocities from occurring in the first place, including how ordinary citizens can get involved.

Jessica Henry spent nearly ten years as a public defender in New York City before joining the Department of Justice Studies at Montclair State University, where she is a Professor and a frequent commentator on national television, radio, and in print media. Her website can be found at jessicahenryjustice.com.