Presumed Guilty

How the Supreme Court Empowered the Police and Subverted Civil Rights

by Erwin Chemerinsky

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Pub Date Aug 24 2021 | Archive Date Jul 31 2021

W. W. Norton & Company | Liveright

History | Nonfiction (Adult) | Politics

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Description

Presumed Guilty reveals how the Supreme Court allows the perpetuation of racist policing by presuming that suspects, especially people of color, are guilty.

Presumed Guilty, like the best-selling The Color of Law, is a “smoking gun” of civil rights research, a troubling history that reveals how the Supreme Court enabled racist policing and sanctioned law enforcement excesses. The fact that police are nine times more likely to kill Black men than other Americans is no accident; it is the result of an elaborate body of doctrines that allow the police and courts to presume that suspects are guilty before being charged.

Demonstrating how the pro-defendant Warren Court was a brief historical aberration, Erwin Chemerinsky shows how this more liberal era ended with Nixon’s presidency and the ascendance of conservative justices, whose rulings—like Terry v. Ohio and Los Angeles v. Lyons—have permitted stops and frisks, limited suits to reform police departments, and even abetted the use of chokeholds. Presumed Guilty concludes that an approach to policing that continues to exalt “Dirty Harry” can be transformed only by a robust court system committed to civil rights.

About the Author: Erwin Chemerinsky is the dean of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. The author of The Conservative Assault on the Constitution and The Case Against the Supreme Court, among many other works, he lives in Berkeley.

Available Editions

EDITION	Hardcover
ISBN	9781631496516
PRICE	$27.95 (USD)

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Featured Reviews

Dan S, Media/Journalist

Presumed Guilty is a must-read and provides very important context regarding crucial Supreme Court decisions and how these decisions have perpetuated systemic racism, especially via policing. He writes about these cases in a very understandable way and the way he is able to link together the history of these cases, helps to bring into clear focus the problems of policing. He also shades important nuance to past court eras that have otherwise been overly simplified as bad/good by too many.

We interviewed him for the The Curiosity Hour Podcast (episode 194) and he was able to talk about process of creating the book and explain some key court cases from the book. We also asked him his thoughts on some other contemporary issues. He is as fascinating to listen to as he is to read and we enjoyed the discussion with him:
https://soundcloud.com/thecuriosityhourpodcast/s10-e194-erwin-chemerinsky-jd
(also available free on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Soundcloud, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Podbean, Overcast, PlayerFM, Castbox, and Pocket Casts).

Note: I voluntarily requested, read, and reviewed this book. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sending me a temporary digital advance reading copy/advance review (ARC) galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. As always, my opinions are my own and do not represent my co-host or the podcast. I request, read, and review many books prior to publication to explore possible future guests for the podcast. I wish we could interview the author of every one of these books because I'm so impressed by the creativity, thoughtfulness, and wisdom shared through the temporary books I get through NetGalley.