News & Features » June 2022 » Rave Reviews spotlight: Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System
Rave Reviews spotlight: Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System
In case you missed it, Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System has been earning tremendous praise for M. Chris Fabricant’s insider’s look into the heart of a broken, racist system of justice and the role junk science plays in maintaining the status quo. If this subject interests you, make sure to read the full Washington Post article about the book, which takes close look at the friction that often exists in our justice system between science and legal precedent.
“Fierce and absorbing . . . Fabricant chronicles the battles he and his colleagues have fought to unravel a century of fraudulent experts and the bad court decisions that allowed them to thrive.” —Washington Post
“Often riveting, well-researched, and utterly convincing, this book sounds a frightening alarm about unreliable expert testimony in the courtroom.”
— New York Journal of Books
“Few people are more qualified to write about wrongful convictions in the U.S. than M. Chris Fabricant . . . Fabricant’s book shows how faulty ideas from blood spatter analysis to shaken baby syndrome were developed, infected court systems, and ruined a still-untold number of lives.”
—Reason
One of CrimeReads Best Nonfiction Books of April 2022 and 10 Best Books of the Week.
One of Kirkus Reviews’ 8 Big New Nonfiction Books from Small Presses.
“Eye-opening, endlessly engaging, and equally infuriating—this book is a must-read.”
—Booklist
“Inherently fascinating and impressively written, exceptionally well organized and presented . . . Singularly informative, thought-provoking, and critically important.”
—Midwest Book Review
“Readers—especially those fond of TV detectives and their infallible crime labs—will be flabbergasted by [Fabricant’s] list of forensic techniques long used by labs, including the FBI’s, and proclaimed by highly paid ‘expert witnesses’ that, when investigated by competent researchers, turn out to be unreliable or worthless . . . A brilliant rebuttal of junk science in the courtroom.”
—Kirkus Reviews, STARRED Review
“This j’accuse provides a broader look at a deeply disturbing aspect of a criminal justice system already considered racist and biased by many . . . The endemic injustices Fabricant lays bare will likely shake even advocates of robust law and order approaches.”
—Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review
“Chris’s groundbreaking work for the Innocence Project has exposed the corrosive effect that junk ‘science’ has in our criminal justice system. He’s a brilliant writer and legal mind. A must-read.”
— Pamela Colloff
Posted: Jun 22, 2022
Category: News