{"product_id":"crime-fictions-how-racist-lies-built-a-system-of-mass-wrongful-conviction","title":"Crime Fictions: How Racist Lies Built a System of Mass Wrongful Conviction","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"At once a beautiful rescuing of so many Black lives that have been irreparably scarred by wrongful accusation and conviction and an unflinching reminder that it is on all of us to insist that this broken system is dismantled, this is a must-read reckoning with past and present alike.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Heather Ann Thompson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eFear and Fury \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Blood in the Water\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve is a masterful storyteller and a rigorous scholar. Yet again, she has written a book that is deeply moving, brilliant, and righteous. You will never look at the institutions of criminal law the same way again after reading this book.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Imani Perry, National Book Award-winning author of \u003ci\u003eSouth to America\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\" \n\u003ci\u003eCrime Fictions\u003c\/i\u003e exposes a racist shadow system run by police and enabled by unethical prosecutors, anti-Black stereotypes, and junk science that brands Black children as 'monsters' and deliberately convicts them of crimes they did not commit. The stories she tells are searing--almost too painful to read--yet far too urgent to ignore. . . . A compelling call for radical change.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Dorothy Roberts, author of \u003ci\u003eKilling the Black Body\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eTorn Apart\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Beautifully written and powerfully argued, \n\u003ci\u003eCrime Fictions\u003c\/i\u003e is a devastating indictment of criminal injustice.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--James Forman Jr., Pultizer Prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eLocking Up Our Own\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\" \n\u003ci\u003eCrime Fictions\u003c\/i\u003e is a gripping exposé that reads like a thriller--except every devastating detail is real. Dr. Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve spent years uncovering a chilling system designed not to find justice, but to lock up children. A landmark work of investigative storytelling, \n\u003ci\u003eCrime Fictions\u003c\/i\u003e forces a reckoning with a criminal legal system embedded with racism, corruption, and lies.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Paul Butler, author of \u003ci\u003eChokehold\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"Fierce condemnation of a justice system that systematically commits injustices against nonwhite defendants . . . a disturbing register of crimes committed by those who are supposed to shield us from crime.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eNicole Gonzalez Van Cleve\u003c\/b\u003e is Associate Professor of Sociology at Brown University and an affiliated scholar with the American Bar Foundation in Chicago, Illinois. She is the award-winning author of \n\u003ci\u003eCrook County \u003c\/i\u003eand has contributed articles to \n\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eNBC News\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eCrain's Chicago Business\u003c\/i\u003e, and \n\u003ci\u003eCNN\u003c\/i\u003e. Her legal commentary has been featured on NPR, NBC News, CNN \n\u003ci\u003e, \u003c\/i\u003eand MSNBC's \n\u003ci\u003e The Rachel Maddow Show.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReading Line\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAuthor of Crook County: Racism and Injustice in America's Largest Criminal Court\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eFrom award-winning sociologist Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve comes the first account of mass wrongful conviction in America, indicting a system purposefully designed to ensnare Black youth in order to close cases\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e\"A must-read reckoning with past and present alike.\"--Heather Ann Thompson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eFear and Fury\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBlood in the Water\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWrongful convictions have long been dismissed as rare exceptions to an otherwise well-oiled criminal justice machine. But, after years spent investigating the largest criminal courthouse in the nation, Chicago's Cook County, Dr. Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve began to uncover a far more chilling truth. Wrongful convictions are not accidental, nor anomalous: There are \n\u003ci\u003eat least\u003c\/i\u003e hundreds of cases indicting innocent Black youth of crimes they didn't commit. Arresting and incarcerating kids is the point--the \"evidence\" is tailored to fit. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn a suspenseful narrative account based on years of interviews, archival research, and the excavation of hidden documents, Gonzalez Van Cleve presents an ironclad \"howdunit,\" illustrating the steps that our supposed system of justice takes to \"find\" criminals, coerce confessions, and bury evidence. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA clear pattern emerges as Lee Hester, a disabled fourteen-year-old boy, is branded a \"super predator\" and convicted of killing his teacher. At just seven years old, Romarr Gipson is charged with a murder that is physically impossible for him to commit. Groups of boys like the Roscetti Four and Dixmoor Five are characterized as \"wolf packs\" in a pattern that connects them to the Central Park Five. These \"crime fictions\" are actively produced, perfected by police, enshrined in our legal records by the courts, and reinforced by the media. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePlacing the exonerated boys at the center of their own story, \n\u003ci\u003eCrime Fictions \u003c\/i\u003eis a devastating, systemic account that leaves us to wonder just how many innocent souls have been claimed by the racist lies police tell.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e 03\/09\/2026 (EAN 9780593447086, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e 06\/15\/2026 (EAN 9780593447086, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496016544022,"sku":"9780593447086","price":38.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9780593447086.jpg?v=1783050665","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/crime-fictions-how-racist-lies-built-a-system-of-mass-wrongful-conviction","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}