Shattered Justice: Crime Victims' Experiences with Wrongful Convictions and Exonerations

by Kimberly J. Cook

Overview

Shattered Justice presents original crime victims' experiences with violent crime, investigations and trials, and later exonerations in their cases.

Using in-depth interviews with 21 crime victims across the United States, Cook reveals how homicide victims’ family members and rape survivors describe the painful impact of the primary trauma, the secondary trauma of the investigations and trials, and then the tertiary trauma associated with wrongful convictions and exonerations. Important lessons and analyses are shared related to grief and loss, and healing and repair. Using restorative justice practices to develop and deliver healing retreats for survivors also expands the practice of restorative justice. Finally, policy reforms aimed at preventing, mitigating, and repairing the harms of wrongful convictions is covered.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781978820357
Publisher:	Rutgers University Press
Publication date:	08/12/2022
Series:	Critical Issues in Crime and Society
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

KIMBERLY J. COOK is a professor of sociology and criminology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She is the director of the Restorative Justice Collaborative at UNCW. She is co-author with Saundra Westervelt of Life After Death Row: Exonerees’ Search for Community and Identity (Rutgers University Press).

Table of Contents

Part I Studying Victims Who Experienced Exonerations 1

1 Introduction: Issues, Methods, and Participants 5

2 Shattered Lives 25

3 Shattered Investigations and Trials 40

4 Shattered Families 60

Part II Tertiary Trauma 73

5 Shattered Justice 75

6 Shattered System 98

7 Elements of Tertiary Trauma 117

8 Shattered Grief, Loss, and Coping 133

Part III Healing, Repair, and Reform 151

9 Healing Justice 153

10 Repairing and Restoring Justice 168

Acknowledgments 191

Notes 195

References 199

Index 207

Editorial Reviews

With this book, Cook gives voice to the original crime victims of wrongful convictions and their family members whose experiences of surviving trauma and re-traumatization are very seldom heard. Cook puts her skills as a qualitative researcher, a feminist criminologist, and a restorative justice expert, to excellent use. Shattered Justice will be a transformative work with sustaining impact.

Loyola University-Chicago - Elizabeth Webster

"A leading expert on wrongful conviction turns her attention to the original crime victims, who frequently receive little more than a fleeting mention following the outcome of these cases. Cook provides insights into their anguish as they try to make sense of what happened, and their struggles with trauma caused by the wrongful conviction and its aftermath. This is one of those rare books that will be a must read for academics, restorative justice practitioners, and policy makers—indeed it is a book for everyone who cares about the state of justice in this country and its victims."

John Jay College of Criminal Justice - Jayne Mooney