Summary Of Down And Dirty Justice By Gary Lowenthal

The book Down and Dirty Justice was written by law professor Gary Lowenthal. He writes about his personal experience and firsthand look into the justice system as he works a kidnapping case in Maricopa County, Arizona. This case took place in the early 1990s, and it deals with a vast majority of topics that may or may not seem acceptable or right to us as the readers. We see a firsthand look at conflicts and disagreements that occur between police officers and prosecutors. Throughout the book we also see Lowenthal inputting his own personal opinions in the text often disagreeing with how police officers are doing their jobs by violating the public’s rights. To the public, we hardly understand or realize what really goes on once a person is arrested for a crime they allegedly have committed, and the processes that occur from their arrest to the point where they are found guilty or innocent. In this book we are able to see from Lowenthal’s point of view how he handles his case as a prosecuting attorney, as well as the views

From the book, along with Lowenthal’s thoughts, our criminal justice system mixed with limited resources along with due process is a very messy truth. Lowenthal seems to constantly express extreme discontent with the police officers in their investigation with this crime mostly because the way they are handling their job is less than perfect. The witnesses in this case seem to have different memories of what happened as well, which could make it easier for the prosecution, if only Lowenthal did not start sympathizing more for the defendant than the victim. This was my view on how Lowenthal viewed the defendant, Steve Schilling, as the book gets closer towards the end. I also found myself starting to show compassion towards Schilling over Ray Hart who was the victim through all of