Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • 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, 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.
* This audiobook edition is accompanied by a downloadable PDF which includes A Note on Sources and Acknowledgments from the book.
“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, 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.
* This audiobook edition is accompanied by a downloadable PDF which includes A Note on Sources and Acknowledgments from the book.
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Community Reviews
Lesa's pick. Ten true stories of wrongful convictions. Co-written with Jim McCloskey of Centurion Ministries.
A great book of not so great stories. The moral of this story, don’t talk to police without the best attorney you can afford. Or better yet, don’t talk to the police. If they don’t have your story, they can’t make up one to refute it. The “justice” system is not so “just”.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 4 stars
I have been on a roll lately with true crime, especially that of wrongful conviction. Framed has proven to be another great book that takes a deeper look into this epidemic.
It absolutely fascinates and disgusts me in equal measure, the prevalence of false imprisonment and wrongful executions in our country. It has really made me question my stance on capital punishment and my faith in the justice system. In a media fueled world where it's guilty until proven innocent, the risk of taking the life of an innocent person is just too great, in my opinion.
Thank you to the Libro.fm Librarian ALC program and Random House Audio for this complimentary Audiobook Listening Copy.
I have been on a roll lately with true crime, especially that of wrongful conviction. Framed has proven to be another great book that takes a deeper look into this epidemic.
It absolutely fascinates and disgusts me in equal measure, the prevalence of false imprisonment and wrongful executions in our country. It has really made me question my stance on capital punishment and my faith in the justice system. In a media fueled world where it's guilty until proven innocent, the risk of taking the life of an innocent person is just too great, in my opinion.
Thank you to the Libro.fm Librarian ALC program and Random House Audio for this complimentary Audiobook Listening Copy.
This book has several interesting cases that I found myself going down the rabbit hole with. Most of the cases were unknown to me before this book, which is always exciting. The topic of real people who were wrongly convicted is something that the True Crime literature world has yet to see...until now. Also, the authors, John Grisham, and Jim McCloskey, do a fabulous job of providing detailed evidence and making the case for innocence of the men and women highlighted in the pages of this book.
One of my letdowns was when Grisham calls someone “mentally retarded” — that is not an appropriate label for someone with a mental disability or lower IQ. The new and more appropriate label would be “intellectually disabled.” In my opinion, this piece of the book needs to be altered to reflect a more kind verbiage.
Another thing that was disappointing was that towards a the end of the book, I did feel like there was too much evidence and the book could have been a lot shorter if paragraphs were cut down.
One of my letdowns was when Grisham calls someone “mentally retarded” — that is not an appropriate label for someone with a mental disability or lower IQ. The new and more appropriate label would be “intellectually disabled.” In my opinion, this piece of the book needs to be altered to reflect a more kind verbiage.
Another thing that was disappointing was that towards a the end of the book, I did feel like there was too much evidence and the book could have been a lot shorter if paragraphs were cut down.
For those looking for a case study book to view the judicial system and its failures, this book is detailed with perspectives and factual timelines (according to research) that could give very interesting arguements and debates. For someone outside the field, it was a rollercoaster of frustrated emotions and build of fear in the police/courts. The co-authors did an amazing job to share these events and their injustice to falsely accused with empathy, grit, and perseverance.
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