Getting away with murder : how politics is destroying the criminal justice system

This work is a look into what is going wrong with the USA's legal system where high-profile suspects go free, there are special sentencing rules for certain groups, offenders are released to offend again, and lawyers and politicians are seen to use the system for their own gain.

It is a critique of how politics has corrupted criminal law in America.

In particular the text argues that group-based jury nullification, like group-based abuse excuses, is precisely the wrong answer to the biases of the criminal justice system.

It views the system in a wider political arena, where cases like that of Willie Horton stifle political debate and promote policies that tie the hands of judges in dealing with dangerous offenders.

Lawyers are also attacked for the failure of their profession to tend to the ethical duties and legal values that it professes.