Dick Calkins Guilty Beyond A Reasonable Doubt

Annotation

"In September 1960, a black woman, living on the near westside of Chicago, was raped 26 times by teenagers belonging to a gang called the New Braves. Each was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in the State Penitentiary. What makes the book compelling is, one of the boys, James Lee Hardin, was innocent and ultimately released by the state with its apologies, but not before serving three and a half years in the Penitentiary. Although mistakes can be made, the book describes how James conviction was no mistake but a calculated process which to this day, nearly 60 years later, still plagues the courts at 26th and California. But even of greater concern is that these gangs still roam the ghettos of Chicago committing even more heinous crimes especially gangland murders. However, what broke the author's heart was that he spent hundreds of hours, which he describes, trying to help all 8 boys survive outside prison. Only Hardin succeeded. The other seven, one by one, ended up back in prison, only this time for life. One was killed and a second went insane. The challenge of living a life we take for granted was overwhelming; the streets of Chicago are unrelenting."