Welcome to the PTC Library's subject guide for Criminal Justice! This guide is designed to introduce students to library resources that are relevant for Criminal Justice research and other course assignments. In addition, it is intended to provide a basic orientation to the library and its services.
Please use the tabs to navigate through the pages of this guide. If you need a review of how to use the library, use click on the introductory guide below.
Framed: astonishing true stories of wrongful convictions
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In John Grisham's first work of nonfiction since The Innocent Man, "the master of the legal thriller" (Associated Press) teams up with Jim McCloskey, "the godfather of the innocence movement" (Texas Monthly), to share ten harrowing true stories of wrongful convictions. "Each of these stories is told with astonishing power. They are packed with human drama, with acts of shocking villainy and breathtaking courage. But these are more than just gripping true stories--they are a clarion call for reforming the tragic flaws in our criminal justice system."--David Grann, New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon John Grisham is known worldwide for his bestselling novels, but it's his real-life passion for justice that led to his work with Jim McCloskey of Centurion Ministries, the first organization dedicated to exonerating innocent people who have been wrongly convicted. Together they offer an inside look at the many injustices in our criminal justice system. A fundamental principle of our legal system is a presumption of innocence, but once someone has been found guilty, there is very little room to prove doubt. These ten true stories shed light on Americans who were innocent but found guilty and forced to sacrifice friends, families, and decades of their lives to prison while the guilty parties remained free. In each of the stories, John Grisham and Jim McCloskey recount the dramatic hard-fought battles for exoneration. They take a close look at what leads to wrongful convictions in the first place and the racism, misconduct, flawed testimony, and corruption in the court system that can make them so hard to reverse. Impeccably researched and told with page-turning suspense as only John Grisham can deliver, Framed is the story of winning freedom when the battle already seems lost and the deck is stacked against you.
Free: My Search for Meaning
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Amanda Knox reflects on her world-famous confinement in an Italian prison and her return to an "ordinary" life--revealing hard-won truths about purpose and fulfillment. Amanda Knox spent nearly four years in prison and eight years on trial for a murder she didn't commit--and became a notorious tabloid story in the process. Though she was exonerated, it's taken more than a decade for her to reclaim her identity and truly feel free. Free recounts how Knox survived prison, the mistakes she made, the misadventures she had reintegrating into society, and culminates in the untold story of her return to Italy--and the extraordinary relationship she's built with the man who sent her to prison. It is the gripping saga of what happens when you become the definition of notorious, but have quietly returned to the matters of a normal life--seeking a life partner, finding a job, or even just going out in public. In harrowing (and sometimes hilarious) detail, Amanda tells the story of her personal growth and hard-fought wisdom, recasting her public reckoning as a private reflection on the search for meaning and purpose that will speak to everyone persevering through hardship.
Final Truth: Autobiography of a Serial Killer
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Author-journalist, Wilton Earle spent 15 months listening to Gaskins horrific confessions and here reveals sight into a killer's tortured mind. This graphic account is not recommended for young readers. but should be required reading for all law enforcement personnel, attorneys, sociologists, physchiatrists, psychologists, and anyone in the forensic field.
