Vol. 54 No. 1

Trial Magazine

Books

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Broken Scales Reflections on Injustice

Joel Cohen, Dale J. Degenshein, Rodney G. Gregory January 2018

Broken Scales: Reflections on Injustice

By Joel Cohen, with Dale J. Degenshein
ABA Book Publishing
288 pp., $29.95
www.americanbar.org/publications

In Broken Scales: Reflections on Injustice, Joel Cohen, a former prosecutor and respected New York City trial lawyer, examines our legal system using transcripts of his interviews with 10 people, each deeply impacted by the process of seeking justice in America.

The book impresses like Cohen’s previous book, Blindfolds Off: Judges on How They Decide, but it’s even more fully formed and enriched by a diversity of perspectives showing how our justice system often enables its antithesis: injustice. The interviews in this page-turner create an insightful nonfiction narrative that makes readers feel like they were part of each event. Too frequently, case histories read as “clinical”—but not here. You will encounter accounts from real individuals that will shock your conscience.

Through its many powerful stories, the book challenges readers to confront and consider the issues raised, such as the guilt now realized by former prosecutor Marty Stroud, who put Glenn Ford, an innocent man, on death row for 30 years; and the courage of Adam Sirois, the lone holdout juror who refused to convict an admitted murderer because the killer was mentally handicapped.

The book also recounts the story of former Iowa Chief Justice Marsha Ternus who lost her judicial position because she voted with other justices to allow a same-sex marriage—well before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. And then there is Ashley Tabaddor, an Iranian-American judge directed by the U.S. Department of Justice not to preside over cases involving Iranians simply because she attended an Iran-America roundtable at the White House.

I was impressed by the structure of the book—verbatim interviews with a diverse group of people about their unique circumstances. Any of these stories could easily be converted to a movie.

As a seasoned litigator, Cohen knew what to ask, when to push, and when to step back and wait for the reply. This book is very lean, with little space wasted on filler. The story is the experiences of the interviewees, told in their own words, and not the author’s opinions. That’s why it works.


Rodney G. Gregory is the president of The Gregory Law Firm in Jacksonville, Fla. He can be reached at rod@gregorylawfirm.net.