Conviction Machine: Standing Up to Federal Prosecutorial Abuse

(Hardback)

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In 2009, Harvey A. Silverglate, a prominent criminal defense and civil liberties lawyer, published his landmark critique of the federal criminal justice system, Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent. In 2014, Sidney Powell, a former federal prosecutor in three districts under nine United States Attorneys from both political parties

Reviews

Read this book before you talk to the feds in an investigation. If it doesnt terrify you, read it again.

Walter Olson, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute; author of Schools for Misrule and The Rule of Lawyers

Silverglate and Powell convincingly demonstrate that federal prosecutorial abuses are not anomalous but routine, which makes them a pressing concern for every American. None of us are safe when law enforcement officials, imbued with extraordinary power, are free to lie, entrap people, extort pleas, and suppress exculpatory evidence, without fear of being held to account. Read this book and take its warnings seriously.

Wendy Kaminer, author and lawyer

The Conviction Machine is a must-read for every American who cares about personal liberty and being protected from those who should be protecting us but sometimes become oppressors rather than defenders.

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House

It takes a strong stomach to read this expos of how far Americas criminal justice system has departed from its constitutional moorings. Whether it is bribing snitches, manipulating grand juries, or coercing guilty pleas by threatening to indict a defendants family members, there appear to be few lines that law enforcement will not cross in pursuit of the almighty conviction. Refusing to accept the inevitability of the status quo, Powell and Silverglate offer a compendium of reforms that, if implemented, would help put the system on the long road to redemption.

Clark Neily, Vice President for Criminal Justice at the Cato Institute

Author Bio

Sidney Powell is a former federal prosecutor and has also represented individuals, corporations, and governments in federal appeals for more than twenty years. She is a past president of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and the Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit, and a member of the American Law Institute. Powell contributes articles on government misconduct and prosecutorial misconduct to a variety of outlets, and she appears frequently on multiple television stations as a legal commentator.

Harvey A. Silverglate is counsel to Bostons Zalkind Duncan & Bernstein LLP, specializing in criminal defense, civil liberties, and academic freedom/student rights law. He is cofounder and member of the board of directors of FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education), and he wrote the "Freedom Watch" column for the fabled Boston Phoenix alternative weekly newspaper until it ceased publication in 2013. His work has appeared in the National Law Journal, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times Book Review, the Boston Globe, and elsewhere. Silverglate is co-author of The Shadow University with Alan Charles Kors.