Death before Sentencing provides a comprehensive description of America's 3,000 plus county and local jails being ignored by the media, politicians, and even criminal justice reformers. Jails have largely escaped scrutiny for deaths in their facilities for several reasons. First, the nation's jails are local affairs. Even repeat jail deaths warrant no more than limited local coverage at most. Jails are mostly run by sheriffs, often the most powerful and largely untouchable political figure in a local community. Third, the families of deceased jail inmates do not usually have the resources to sue or socioeconomic clout to be heard demanding jail accountability for loved ones' deaths. And lastly, many understood jail deaths as occurring from "natural causes," the verdict medical examiners and coroners erroneously employ to allow those responsible for the deaths to escape any accountability. This book constitutes the most complete investigation of the deadly side of jails, describing the daily deaths of detainees, including those from suicides, drug and alcohol withdrawal, forced restraint and brutality, as well as medical malpractice. Andrew R. Klein with Jessica L. Klein show how the failure of jail oversight by state correctional officials, state and county prosecutors, state police as well as sheriffs, medical examiners, and coroners allows for the secrecy surrounding and the cover up of jail deaths. Through a growing number of wrongful death lawsuits and the increasing role of the media in uncovering the truth about deadly jails, communities, led by the grieving families, are working to hold jailers and their medical providers accountable. This book concludes with hopeful signs of reforms being initiated by the U.S. Justice Department under President Biden, state legislatures, successful lawsuits, and reformers as well as suggests the major institutional reforms required to stop the daily deaths in America's jails.

Whatever the number, domestic violence victims remain far too many for a preventable crime. More and more victims of intimate partner violence are reaching out to police, prosecutors and judges only to be sorely disappointed, even betrayed. While laws and programs have multiplied over the last few decades to address domestic violence, the country is getting safer for almost everyone except for women who have, or have had, abusive male intimate partners. Andrew R. Klein and Jessica L. Klein look at the criminal justice response to domestic violence across America today, ranging from police to prosecutors and courtrooms across the nation. Abetting Batterers reveals the troubling pattern of inattention and incompetence that compromises the safety of women and encourages their male abusers to continue their abuse and violence. Although criminal justice system agencies vary among cities, towns and counties within the same state they all too often relegate domestic violence to the backburners of the system, dismissing victims and ignoring even the most serious and chronic abusers. The variation reveals the real problem in preventing intimate partner violence lies in these agencies’ commitment and will, rather than their ability to do the job. The authors unveil what is working in regard to protecting victims of domestic violence and holding their abusers accountable, and they suggest strategies for ensuring that what is being done right can be replicated and become the law and practice across the nation. The wide variation in how intimate partner violence is handled by similar jurisdictions demonstrates the real problem in preventing  it lies in these agencies’ commitment, rather than ability to do the job. This book proves to be invaluable in understanding what is and is not being done in the reality of domestic violence in America.

Whatever the number, domestic violence victims remain far too many for a preventable crime. More and more victims of intimate partner violence are reaching out to police, prosecutors and judges only to be sorely disappointed, even betrayed. While laws and programs have multiplied over the last few decades to address domestic violence, the country is getting safer for almost everyone except for women who have, or have had, abusive male intimate partners. Andrew R. Klein and Jessica L. Klein look at the criminal justice response to domestic violence across America today, ranging from police to prosecutors and courtrooms across the nation. Abetting Batterers reveals the troubling pattern of inattention and incompetence that compromises the safety of women and encourages their male abusers to continue their abuse and violence. Although criminal justice system agencies vary among cities, towns and counties within the same state they all too often relegate domestic violence to the backburners of the system, dismissing victims and ignoring even the most serious and chronic abusers. The variation reveals the real problem in preventing intimate partner violence lies in these agencies’ commitment and will, rather than their ability to do the job. The authors unveil what is working in regard to protecting victims of domestic violence and holding their abusers accountable, and they suggest strategies for ensuring that what is being done right can be replicated and become the law and practice across the nation. The wide variation in how intimate partner violence is handled by similar jurisdictions demonstrates the real problem in preventing it lies in these agencies’ commitment, rather than ability to do the job. This book proves to be invaluable in understanding what is and is not being done in the reality of domestic violence in America.