ROUGH JUSTICE - Hardcover

Heilbroner has written a thoroughly engrossing, often very funny, and always thought-provoking account of his three years as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan. He began as a naive young lawyer writing up misdemeanor reports (his first encounter with a "token sucker" is a highlight) and worked his way through many different divisions, ultimately dealing with almost every type of crime. Eventually, he began to question his role and that of the criminal justice system itself, where justice is often subservient to concerns such as overburdened prisons and courtroom dockets. This should be required reading for all persons interested in law and crime, both for Heilbroner's inside look at all aspects of prosecution, from arraignment to trial and after, as well as his keen observations of what must be done to improve the system.
- Sally G. Waters, Stetson Law Lib., St. Petersburg, Fla.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Heilbroner, an assistant district attorney in New York City from 1985 to 1988, here charts his disillusionment with the criminal justice system. Initially he was assigned exclusively to misdemeanor cases, of which there were tens of thousands a year, almost all of them settled through plea bargaining or dismissal of the charges. He advanced to handling felonies, and often even these more serious cases were resolved by plea bargaining. Sensitive to the plight of the defendants, most of them minorities and from deprived backgrounds, Heilbroner found that he could not develop the requisite professionalism to continue in the job. His book, although filled with the workaday details of the prosecutor's role, contains no revelations and remains a one-time ADA's undistinguished probe of a system that "did not lend itself easily to analysis or reform."
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.