There are many books related to the criminal justice system in the United States whose main focus is to highlight the extraordinary cases. Most of them discuss high-profile crimes and breathtaking and thrilling trials. However, Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court by Amy Bach is an exceptionally different book. Bach is an award-winning reporter cum lawyer who has given a completely original enlightenment concerning the failing justice system in the United States of America.
There is no doubt in the fact that Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court is a ground-breaking piece of work by Bach as it is full of sensational real stories, sharp elucidations, and the sense of exigency of a crusader. It would not be untrue to state that this book is a considerable reconsideration of the courtrooms in this country and their health. The acclaimed attorney-writer has been able to successfully depict an extremely influential and frightening tale in the usual justice system workings. In particular, Bach has portrayed the failures of the justice system revealing the routine injustices that take place in courtrooms across the United States of America.
The “Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court is not a narrative that only tells the tale of a lawyer who falls asleep during a death penalty trial. Many writers have used the same theme to describe the tragic outcomes of such a scenario. Bach has taken a step further. She has disclosed the reality of communities that allows such sleeping lawyers to continue taking their catnaps and snooze during trials. Bach has made courthouses in Greene County (Georgia), Quitman County (Mississippi and Chicago), and Troy (New York) as the focus of her investigations (Bach).
In every courthouse mentioned, Bach finds out about the erosion of constitutional protections that are supposed to be followed. It is a book that contains several stories that the mainstream mostly overlooks, intentionally and unintentionally. It is believed that wrongful convictions are more dramatic than plain cases. It is the reason the media is less interested in the latter stories. On the other hand, Bach has managed to write this extraordinary book by revealing the striking details that she collected after sitting during courtroom benches for long hours. Her hard work made it possible for her to publish one of the most critically acclaimed books of the contemporary times.
Bach had the chance of meeting a contract defense attorney, Robert Surrency, in Georgia. He was overburdened to the extent that a lot of his impoverished clients did not get any justice while the County was able to save some amount of money. Instead, Robert made petition deals with no investigation charges. In addition, he did not even consult with his clients in a meaningful manner. Bach revealed the astonishing factor that both the judge and prosecutor continued with the trial. There was no appropriate testing of the evidence. The innocence or wrongdoing of Robert’s client could not be known as a result.
Bach interacted with a judge in Troy. She found that he had persuaded and pressurized defendants into pleading on the wrong side of the law. He did so with the enforcement of excessive financial guarantees (bails) for negligible wrongdoings. Not only this, Bach tells of his injustices by revealing that he exploited innocent people especially when they had no means to hire a lawyer.
Bach also tells about his meeting with a prosecutor in one of Mississippi’s rural counties. In simple words, he was not capable of performing his job successfully. Bach found that his failing attitude allowed the occurrence of crimes against women. This was because he did not seem to pressurize law enforcement to carry out some real investigation. In the final part of the book, Bach tells an extremely extraordinary story of Lisa Cabassa. This story carries significant lessons for the entire system of criminal justice. Bach included this story in the end to make her readers know the reality behind criminal justice system’s workings. Two innocent men were wrongfully convicted for Lisa’s rape and murder.
Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court is an out-of-the-world book in every sense. This is because Bach has bravely and boldly revealed the truth behind the courtroom trials. The readers are able to look and understand at a section of the criminal justice system that is not examined regularly. It is not untrue to state that the findings of Bach about the criminal justice system and people within it are depressingly troubling.
This book has exposed a series of failures, poor quality, and organized tawdriness at the nucleus of the criminal justice system in the United States of America. It is extremely unfortunate that this system stays unchecked because its consequences are felt only by deprived people who are poor, marginalized, or destitute.
It is also a reality exposed by Bach that the pervasiveness of these problems is so expanded that the judges, prosecutors, and defenders have closed their eyes to them. According to Bach, this adopted blindness is the outcome of a public that does not care about the rights of the accused. Justice is only imparted when all the stakeholders are willing to make the wrongdoer suffer for his transgression. Otherwise, no one cares about the criminal and the innocent.
It is extremely important to mention that even though this book is a mirror to many, readers may get disappointed as Bach has not provided any solutions for the problems she has mentioned. Bach has only recommended that there is a need for accountability and transparency all through the country. She has offered a solution of creating metrics for the successfulness of courtroom as well as regulation of monitoring on a national level.
A compelling feature of this book is that Bach has brilliantly portrayed the hurt felt by the people who do not receive their rights and justice from the American criminal justice system. These people include the crimes’ victims and people charged with false convictions. It can be said that Bach has inscribed the actual happenings in the world of prosecutions. She convinces her readers that there is a painful difference in the reality and the idealistic depiction of constitutional rights.
As far as my opinion is concerned, Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court is an essential read that would definitely fascinate anyone who reads it. It takes the reader to courtroom fiefdoms that remain unexamined throughout America. It makes readers aware of the true happenings that take place within the criminal justice system on a daily basis. The book is a depiction of the dangerous but true color of a majority of defenders, judges, and prosecutors. It is also a hurtful read for the patriotic people as they become aware of the malfunctions of system. I believe that a person concerned with the country’s democratic system cannot afford to ignore this bold book by Amy Bach.
Bach has been triumphant in uncovering and explaining the extensive and pervasive legal process failures in the United States of America. The achievement of the mentioned revelations is a reason itself to access, read and admire Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court. It is important to mention that Bach has does so in a manner that has turned an obligatory study into a narrative that is not easy to put down.
References
Bach, A. (2009). Ordinary Injustice : How America Holds Court. New York: Metropolitan Books. Print.
