Inspired by a shocking family crime, Katharine Blake's The Uninnocent: Notes on Violence and Mercy is a wise and moving reflection on some of the most vexing aspects of the American criminal justice system. Paramount among her concerns are sentencing practices that treat juveniles who commit serious offenses as adults.
Blake, an adjunct professor at Vermont Law School's Center for Justice Reform, takes as her point of departure an unspeakable act: her 16-year-old cousin Scott's random murder of a nine-year-old boy in his home state of Louisiana in 2010. At the time, Blake had just completed her first year at Stanford Law School, and the shock of the event influences her career path, eventually leading her to a job with the Children's Defense Fund in Washington, D.C., and a stint teaching writing to inmates at San Quentin State Prison.
But this book is much more than a memoir of personal transformation or family dynamics. Devastated by Scott's crime, Blake takes the opportunity to explore a range of topics that emanate from it, including the insanity defense and the notion of criminal responsibility, as well as draconian sentencing practices that reject the idea of rehabilitation, what she calls a "condemnation of possibility." Blake is an evocative writer whose familiarity with sources that include Shakespeare, contemporary penology, and even the insights of neuroscience and cardiology lends color and depth to her meditations. Despite its brevity, The Uninnocent invites readers to ponder some large and difficult questions. --Harvey Freedenberg, freelance reviewer