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The Other Side of The Story Review

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The Other Side of The Story Review Diana Flores CRIJ 1306

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The Other Side of The Story Review The book “The Other Side of the Story” is about the author Daphine Pricilla Brown and the journey her and her family went through after her husband is accused of a crime that he didn’t commit .On August 26, 2009, The author thought everything was fine. While driving home from work, as she reflected on her day, thanked God for all her blessings, she got a gut instinct that told her something was wrong, then her phone rang. Her daughter told her that her father had allegations against him. She knew from that moment things weren’t fine anymore. In the following months as the situation in her home became extremely overwhelming, the author knew she could no longer depend on anyone because she thought that it would be too embarrassing to talk about. She then turned to God who gave her strength and comfort during this time. Her life soon starts to fall apart after their family starts facing financial issues due to hiring lawyer after lawyer and her husbands’ fate wasn’t looking too good. This experience navigated her and her family through the criminal justice system and helped them learn to trust in Gods purpose and plan. . The author considered her and her family to be good people who served God. She wondered what they could have possibly done to deserve this type of hardship. She worked in the criminal justice system and her husband was in the military. Ironically the system she served is the same system she got caught in the middle of. I believe that the author is trying to raise awareness about how unfair the criminal justice system can really be. Having to pay for many lawyers and going further and further into debt because you apparently make too much to get a court appointed attorney. I think the authors main points are to never throw in the towel just because things get hard, always ask because you’ll never know what the outcome will be, and to never stop trusting in God’s plan because he will not give you more than you can handle. The evidence the author

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provides is her emotional story of trying to prove her husband’s innocence and trying to keep her family afloat at the same time. In this journey she never gave up even when things were too hard to bear, she asked for help and received it and she believed in God’s plan. I think this evidence is convincing. I believe that the author’s main goal in writing this book was to tell her story of being caught in the middle of the criminal justice system and how it effects not only the accused but their family as well. The authors goal was to show the hardships that her and her family faced while trying to prove her husband’s innocence. These hardships include her husband being treated as if he was already guilty, going through lawyer after lawyer, losing so much money to the point they couldn’t afford groceries and almost losing their home. I think the authors goal was to also bring hope to those in the same situation so that they won’t give up just like she wanted to in her situation. What I found most interesting about this book was the author’s strong relationship with God and how she compared her situation to the story of Job in the bible. Job lost everything but never stopped trusting in God just like the author. I found it interesting how long the process to prove one’s innocence can be. The countless resets, spending so much money on bonds, going to jail then coming home and having to wait for a jury to determin your fate. I also found it interesting how strong someone can be in a position of so much stress and how they can keep themselves together for the sake of their children. I don’t think I could be that strong. There were a few parts of this book that I agree with. I agree with the fact that the criminal justice system can be so unfair at times. There have been so many cases where a person is wrongly convicted, and they have to fight the system as if they were guilty. Sadly, some of those people end up going to prison for years for a crime they didn’t commit. I agree that it can be

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embarrassing to tell your friends and family when you’re struggling but I feel that that’s what they are there for. I also disagreed with quite a few parts of the book. I disagree with how the officers first reacted when arresting the authors husband, the first time. I understand it was an aggravated felony charge, but they didn’t have to do that. I disagree with the way the court did not allow them to just have a public defender, no one should have to go to jail in order to get legal representation for free. I disagree with the amount of resets the court had. With that many resets they should have just dismissed the case. I disagree with the fact that the court was basically trying to make this man admit guilt to a crime he wasn’t even in the country to commit. Did they not see the evidence? What I think would have made the book better is more detail, the author mentions her daughter has a secret but never says what it is? Why mention it if you are not going to talk about it? I think the author should have gave more detail on the trial than on her home life. The issues and themes relate to what we have learned this semester because we have learned about the way a courtroom functions and we watch what we learned in action while reading this book. We watched the entire process from the arrest to the verdict. We saw the power that the key actors in the courtroom play. How a decision made by a group of our peers determine where you spend your life. These are all things we have seen in our textbooks and the quizzes. What I learned in this book is that the criminal justice system is not always fair. This book shaped my view because if I saw that many resets and that little amount of evidence as a prosecutor, I would have dismissed the case instead of refiling. I believe that the legal system should allow someone to get a public defender without having to stay in jail. It was also crazy seeing the key actor in a courtroom which is the prosecutor, work against the main

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character. We were seeing the point of view from the side of the accused rather than on the side of the prosecutor which is the point of view we mostly see on TV and in movies.

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Brown-Jack, D. P. (2015). The other side of the story. Bloomington, IN: Abbott Press....