Preview
  • Barred

  • Why the Innocent Can’t Get Out of Prison
  • By: Daniel S. Medwed
  • Narrated by: Jason Arnold
  • Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (5 ratings)

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Barred

By: Daniel S. Medwed
Narrated by: Jason Arnold
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Publisher's summary

A groundbreaking exposé of how our legal system makes it nearly impossible to overturn wrongful convictions

Thousands of innocent people are behind bars in the United States. But proving their innocence and winning their release is nearly impossible.

In Barred, legal scholar Daniel S. Medwed argues that our justice system’s stringent procedural rules are largely to blame for the ongoing punishment of the innocent. Those rules guarantee criminal defendants just one opportunity to appeal their convictions directly to a higher court. Afterward, the wrongfully convicted can pursue only a few narrow remedies. Even when there is strong evidence of a miscarriage of justice, rigid guidelines, bias, and deference toward lower courts all too often prevent exoneration.

Offering clear explanations of legal procedures alongside heart-wrenching stories of their devastating impact, Barred exposes how the system is stacked against the innocent—and makes a powerful call for change.

©2022 Daniel S. Medwed (P)2022 OrangeSky Audio
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Critic reviews

“In our screwed-up legal system, it’s fairly easy to convict an innocent person and send them to prison. Tragically, and as Daniel S. Medwed explains so clearly in Barred, it is almost impossible to get them out. Punishing the innocent is not just a problem in other places. We do it every day in America.”—John Grisham

“By blending tales of real-life wrongful convictions with straightforward explanations of legal procedures, Medwed’s Barred demystifies the mysterious path for the innocent after trial. His clear and engaging writing style makes the topic accessible to anyone interested in the hazards of our criminal justice system. A must-read!”—Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking

“For every innocent prisoner we’ve freed over the past three decades, countless others remain behind bars. Barred brilliantly illustrates the absurdity of this situation: how it is far too easy to convict the innocent, and far too hard to correct those mistakes.”—Barry Scheck, cofounder of the Innocence Project

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Crime junkie, not a lawyer

This book really took me on a roller coaster, made me lose all hope for the justice system but the overall message did give me some relief for the changes that are happening and made me feel more confident in my knowledge of our legal system and how do respond in the event I am in a situation. The language used made it easier to understand for someone who’s never been to law school or even taken a law class.

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