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RECOMMENDED LITERATURE
ON LEGAL REFORM & THE LEGAL SYSTEM


Title: A NATION UNDER LAWYERS
Subtitle: How the Crisis in the Legal Profession is Transforming American Society
Author: Mary Ann Glendon
Publisher: Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1994
Comments: Herself a lawyer, Glendon is sympathetic towards the profession. The book is more about legal education and transformations of lawyer life than transformations of society, but some good material can be gleaned if you can avoid choking on such twaddle as defense lawyers being "...the closest thing America has to the Knights of the Round Table."
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Title: ANATOMY OF A JURY, THE SYSTEM ON TRIAL
Author: Seymour Wishman
Publisher: Times Books, New York, 1986
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Title: BLACK MONDAYS
Subtitle: Worst Decisions of the Supreme Court
Author: Joel D. Joseph
Publisher: National Press, Bethesda, MD, 1987
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Title: BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS
Publisher: DOJ (U.S. Department of Justice)
Comments:Comprehensive annual reports and various other publications are available from this government agency.
Availability: Contact the U.S. Department of Justice

Title: CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Comments: If it's been a while since you last studied this great document, you should review it. One prominent writer-attorney in this field reports he has yet to meet a lawyer who read it at law school.
Availability: Encyclopedia, Local Library

Title: CRIME AND HUMAN NATURE
Authors: James Q. Wilson and Richard J. Herrnstein
Publisher: Simon and Schuster, New York, 1985
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Title: CRIME IN AMERICA
Author: Ramsay Clark
Publisher: Simon and Schuster, New York, 1970
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Title: CRIME IN THE UNITED STATES
Author: Federal Bureau of Investigation
Publisher: U.S. Government
Availability: Contact the FBI

Title: CRIMINAL JUSTICE?
Subtitle: The Legal System vs. Individual Responsibility
Author: Edited By Robert James Bidinotto
Publisher: The Foundation For Economic Education, Inc., Irving-on-Hudson, New York, 1994
Comments: This book is a compilation of 18 essays and readings, four of which are by the Editor himself. Bidinotto is a Reader's Digest investigative staff writer and is otherwise widely published. While this writer disagrees with a few of the recommendations in the collection, most of the writings are of high quality and illuminate basic, prominent problems with criminal justice in America today.
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Title: CRISIS IN OUR COURTS
Author: Steve Bertsch
Publisher: Gollehon Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1993
Comments: Bertsch is a lawyer—brave enough to speak out. He has a quick wit and provides a keen look at many problems of our legal system. His thinking on the jury system is superb, and his style and insight make for entertaining reading.
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Title: ESCAPE OF THE GUILTY
Author: Ralph Adam Fine
Publisher: Dodd, Mead, and Company, New York, 1986
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Title: FED UP WITH THE LEGAL SYSTEM?
Subtitle: What's Wrong & How To Fix It
Authors: Ralph E. Warner and Stephen Elias
Publisher: Nolo Press, 1994
Comments: Warner and Elias are attorneys. Warner is co-founder of Nolo Press, which publishes legal self-help and other books. Their book is full of great quotes. Some of the suggested remedies of Warner and Elias center around governmental or regulatory bodies and commissions, which would only increase the load on the citizenry and in most instances simply replace a bad set of legal procedures and corruption with another set of regulatory procedures and corruption—overseen by government. Many other of their suggestions are excellent and have been interweaved into this book.
Availability: Nolo Press, Bookstores, Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com

Title: GALILEO'S REVENGE
Subtitle: Junk Science In The Courtroom
Author: Peter W. Huber
Publisher: Basic Books, New York, 1993
Comments: Another book by one of the nation's best legal authors.
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Title: GOVERNING PRISONS
Subtitle: A Comparative Study of Correctional Management
Author: John J. DiIulio, Jr.
Publisher: Free Press, New York, 1987
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Title: HIT ME—I NEED THE MONEY
Author: Marjorie Berte
Publisher: ICS Press, San Francisco, CA 1991
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Title: INSIDE THE CRIMINAL MIND
Author: Stanton E. Samenow
Publisher: Times Books, New York, 1984
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Title: LAWYERS AND OTHER REPTILES
Author: Jess M. Brallier
Publisher: Contemporary Books, Chicago, 1992
Comments: Largely a book of humor, but contains many excellent quotes.
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Title: LIABILITY
Subtitle: The Legal Revolution And Its Consequences
Author: Peter W. Huber
Publisher: Basic Books, Inc., New York, 1988
Comments: This is an excellent, scholarly work by one who has an in-depth knowledge of the law and how it has been twisted by lawyers and judges. Huber is a lawyer and as such, deserves respect for the service his well-researched and enlightening work provides. He has a unique, intellectual writing style and keen wit. The thrust of his book centers, as the title suggests, around liability. "Must" reading.
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Title: LOONY LAWS
Author: Robert W. Pelton
Publisher: Walker & Co., New York, 1990
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Title: LOSING GROUND
Subtitle: American Social Policy, 1950-1980
Author: Charles Murray
Publisher: Basic Books, Inc., New York, 1984
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Title: LOST RIGHTS
Subtitle: The Destruction of American Liberty
Author: James Bovard
Publisher: St. Martin's Press, New York, 1994
Comments: An excellent book, though largely concerned with a different American monster.
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Title: NO ESCAPE
Subtitle: The Future of American Corrections
Author: John J. DiIulio, Jr.
Publisher: Free Press, New York, 1991
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Title: OF THE SHARKS, BY THE SHARKS, FOR THE SHARKS
Subtitle: The Legal Revolution
Author: Paul Sharp
Publisher: CRJ
Comments: Preeminent analysis of the corruptions of the American legal system and necessary corrective recommendations.
Availability: Center for the Restoration of Justice

Title: SHARK TANK
Author: Kim Isaac Eisler
Publisher: Plume/Penguin Books, New York, 1991
Comments: A chronicle of the rise and fall of America's second-largest law firm and the corruption involved.
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Title: THE BRETHREN
Authors: Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong
Publisher: Simon and Schuster, New York, 1979
Comments: Rather like a whole volume of one-step-up National-Enquirer-style gossip on the Supreme Court. The authors seem bent on discrediting Chief Justice Warren E. Burger. The book nevertheless provides pertinent insight, statements, and quotes. Warning: be prepared for explicit and foul language.
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Title: THE DEATH OF COMMON SENSE
Subtitle: How Law Is Suffocating America
Author: Philip K. Howard
Publisher: Warner Books, 1996
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Title: THE DEATH OF CONTRACT
Author: Grant Gilmore
Publisher: Ohio State University Press, 1974
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Title: THE INSANITY PLEA
Subtitle: The Uses and Abuses of the Insanity Defense
Author: William Winslade
Publisher: Charles Scribner's, 1983
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Title: THE JURY: DISORDER IN THE COURTS
Author: Stephen J. Adler
Publisher: Main Street Books
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Title: THE LITIGATION EXPLOSION
Subtitle: What Happened When America Unleashed The Lawsuit
Author: Walter K. Olson
Publisher: Truman Talley Books (Plume / Penguin Books), New York, 1992
Comments: Another excellent, scholarly work, scholarly yet written in an easily-readable style. The analogies and comparisons are often witty, sometimes ironic, generally poignant. The book covers lawsuits in all areas, and is required reading for anyone desiring to delve deeply into the legal system in America today. One of the best.
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Title: THE LITIGATORS
Author: John Jenkins
Publisher: Doubleday, 1989
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Title: THE MILLION-DOLLAR LAWYERS
Author: Joseph Goulden
Publisher: Putnam, 1978
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Title: THE TRENTON PICKLE ORDINANCE AND OTHER BONEHEAD LEGISLATION
Author: Dick Hyman
Publisher: Stephen Greene Press, Brattleboro, VT, 1976
Comments: A wonderful work detailing numerous foolish laws still on the books across the nation.
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Title: UNIFORM CRIME REPORTS FOR THE UNITED STATES
Author: U.S. DOJ (Department of Justice)
Publisher: U.S. Government
Comments: Published annually.
Availability: Contact the U.S. Department of Justice

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