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Book Review of The Abuse Excuse : And Other Cop-outs, Sob Stories, and Evasions of Responsibility

The Abuse Excuse : And Other Cop-outs, Sob Stories, and Evasions of Responsibility
Tesstarosa avatar reviewed on + 151 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2


Mr Dershowitz book explores the use of abuse as an excuse for commiting in trials and the success of the "abuse excuse." He gives multiple examples of different abuse excuse cases (Lorena Bobbit, Melendez Brothers, etc.)

The "Introduction" is fairly lengthy (relative to the rest of the chapters) and includes a number of footnotes to support his positions or add information. The stories about the cases are well written and easy to read.

The book was written while the OJ Simpson trial was being prepared and must have been released before the verdict -- he makes several references to the OJ case in the book. It's a bit weird reading these stories now, but it is an interesting read.