An affirmative response led her to delve deeply into the grave flaws in the criminal justice system underlying that startling statistic. The result is what she says is the first book to explore the causes and consequences of convicting individuals of crimes that never happened.
The damage begins “with the police and extends through prosecutors, defense lawyers and judges,” Henry adds. “The harm caused to the innocent person who is wrongly convicted, his or her family and society at large is tremendous. In a democratic society, we do not have an interest in prosecuting, convicting and incarcerating people for crimes that never occurred. That is not in our vision of what justice should be.”
Henry’s book is chockful of examples, but one of the most compelling describes Frances and Dan Keller, who ran a day-care center in Texas. Their supposed crimes included killing and dismembering babies. In 1992, the couple was convicted of sexual abuse and each sentenced to 48 years in prison — for crimes that were entirely fictional.
After 21 years the Kellers, by then in their 70s, were exonerated and released.
An associate professor of justice studies at Montclair State University in New Jersey, Henry majored in sociology and economics at Bucknell. She says a class in Law and Society with Professor Matt Silberman “helped shape the course of my career. I applied to law school to be a public defender — that’s what I wanted to do. I attribute that to his syllabus. I found all of the readings he put on reserve just fascinating.”
A More Graceful Shaboom (PM Press, 2020)
Harmon Jitney, a gender nonbinary child who has two moms, finds a mysterious purse that seems to be a key to another dimension. This book features LGBTQAI+ characters woven into an imaginative story, and subtly introduces lessons about gender and sexual orientation without overtly being a lesson book. Follow Harmon as they unlock the key to their own inner happiness and sense of community.
SYLVIA FORGES-RYAN ’58, M’63
Side By Side: Poems and Prints (Cyberwit, 2019)
Known for her poetry in various Japanese forms, Forges-Ryan’s latest book of haiku is a collaboration with artist Sandra Olenik. The two previously worked together on Frogpond, the journal of the Haiku Society of America. The book features 31 poems and corresponding prints.
BRETT RUSSO TIEDE ’01
The Underwear in My Shoe: My Journey through IVF, Unfiltered (Houndstooth Press, 2020)
The Underwear in My Shoe chronicles the author’s journey with husband Jason Tiede ’99 through many rounds of failed attempts at in vitro fertilization (IVF) in their quest to have a child.
MATTHEW STEVENSON ’76
The Revolution as a Dinner Party: Across China with Edgar Snow, Mao Tse-tung, Joseph Stilwell, Chiang Kai-shek, and Sun Yat-sen (Odysseus Books, 2020)
Through Beijing and Hong Kong, and many places in between, Stevenson moves around by bicycle, train and foot, allowing him to describe the places that shaped the lives of China’s founders.
MEREDITH SUE WILLIS ’68
Soledad in the Desert (Montemayor Press, 2020)
This science-fiction novel depicts Soledad, a precocious young woman who is intent on saving her clan of desert dwellers — practitioners of nonviolence and meditation — from extinction on a harsh planet.