Crime Fictions

“At once a beautiful rescuing of so many Black lives that have been irreparably scarred by wrongful accusation and conviction and an unflinching reminder that it is on all of us to insist that this broken system is dismantled, this is a must-read reckoning with past and present alike.”—Heather Ann Thompson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Fear and Fury and Blood in the Water

“Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve is a masterful storyteller and a rigorous scholar. Yet again, she has written a book that is deeply moving, brilliant, and righteous. You will never look at the institutions of criminal law the same way again after reading this book.”—Imani Perry, National Book Award–winning author of South to America

“Crime Fictions exposes a racist shadow system run by police and enabled by unethical prosecutors, anti-Black stereotypes, and junk science that brands Black children as ‘monsters’ and deliberately convicts them of crimes they did not commit. The stories she tells are searing—almost too painful to read—yet far too urgent to ignore. . . . A compelling call for radical change.”—Dorothy Roberts, author of Killing the Black Body and Torn Apart

“Beautifully written and powerfully argued, Crime Fictions is a devastating indictment of criminal injustice.”—James Forman Jr., Pultizer Prize–winning author of Locking Up Our Own

“Crime Fictions is a gripping exposé that reads like a thriller—except every devastating detail is real. Dr. Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve spent years uncovering a chilling system designed not to find justice, but to lock up children. A landmark work of investigative storytelling, Crime Fictions forces a reckoning with a criminal legal system embedded with racism, corruption, and lies.”—Paul Butler, author of Chokehold

“Fierce condemnation of a justice system that systematically commits injustices against nonwhite defendants. . . . A disturbing register of crimes committed by those who are supposed to shield us from crime.”—Kirkus Reviews