Review – The Deprived by Steffen Hou is an excellent study of innocent people sentenced to death row. It tells of their struggles to find someone to believe them and fight for their freedom, as well as the effects upon their family.

Review - The Deprived by Steffen Hou Book cover red with white skull    

The Deprived: Innocent on Death Row by Steffen Hou

Genres: True Crime, Criminal Biographies, Serial Killers,

My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars

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Synopsis from Goodreads:

‘The Deprived: Innocent On Death Row’ tells the dramatic stories of innocent Americans sentenced to death, and investigates the murder and abduction cases that led to their wrongful convictions.

The book gives a unique and heartbreaking insight to life on death row, and describes how ordinary mothers and fathers fight for their lives, even though they never committed any crime.

Buckle up as the book takes you on a devastating journey through the US Justice System to prove how police misconduct, friends’ evil, and even a 12-year-old boy’s false testimony can easily put innocent people on death row.

Read the shocking stories:

  • Nick Yarris describes how serial killer Ted Bundy chased him in prison and how he managed to escape from death row to become America’s most wanted.
  • Sunny Jacobs explains what it is like to be a woman on death row and how her husband had fire coming out of his head when he was executed just to be proven innocent shortly after.
  • Marietta Jaeger tells how her seven-year-old daughter was abducted and killed, but also why she forgave her daughter’s serial killer and fought for him not to get the death penalty.
  • Randy Gardner admits he helped his brother escape from prison and that the brother committed murder while on the run.
  • Damon Thibodeaux relives how his own family accused him of being a cold-blooded child killer when he was sentenced to death for the homicide of a 16-year-old girl, he never did any harm.
  • Derrick Jamison describes how he had 90 minutes to live, but was proven innocent before entering the execution chamber.

These and other stories that also reveal whether it is possible to restore life after being wrongfully incarcerated for decades or if freedom as an exoneree is even harder than being on death row.

 

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Review – The Deprived by Steffen Hou

E-Book Details:

  • File Size: 2660 KB
  • Print Length: 220 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 154395507X
  • Publisher: Hou Media; 1 edition (March 16, 2019)
  • Publication Date: March 16, 2019
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B07PQ45WBT
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Not Enabled
  • Word Wise: Enabled
  • Lending: Enabled
  • Screen Reader: Supported
  • Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
41aoNKatmCL. AC AC SR98,95The Deprived: Innocent on D...Shop on Amazon

Review – The Deprived by Steffen Hou

Paperback Details:

  • Paperback: 218 pages
  • Publisher: BookBaby (April 3, 2019)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 154395507X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1543955071
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces

61HE+etsgjL. AC AC SR98,95The Deprived: Innocent on D...Shop on Amazon61HE+etsgjL. AC AC SR98,95The Deprived: Innocent on D...Shop on Amazon

The Deprived is also available on Barnes & Noble

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My review – The Deprived by Steffen Hou

What an interesting study of innocent people convicted and sent to death row. The author presents the case studies and his thoughts in a straightforward, easy to understand manner. The book refutes many myths regarding the death penalty.

The book chronicles not only the lives of those on death row and the exonerated but also the effects on the families of the accused. Even the victim’s family gets to present their thoughts and emotions.

This fairly short book contains so much useful information for further study and debate, it should be required reading for young and old alike.

Favorite quote: “If it’s proven a person has been wrongfully put in prison, authorities can go and get him out of his cell. “But they can never go and get him out of the grave,”

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Comments are greatly appreciated. Please scroll to the bottom to find the comment section!

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From the Author

Review - The Deprived by Steffen Hou - Headshot of author - black background, tanned face, dark hair, white shirt

Courtesy of Amazon

From the Author

Over the years, I have repeatedly read about innocent people who have been released from death row under great media awareness and I have always been curious about how these people’s lives have evolved when the cameras have been turned off and the reporters have left the prison gate.

Several times, I came across the name, Nick Yarris–a man who was exonerated by the use of DNA evidence after spending 22 years on Pennsylvania’s death row.

Since his release, Nick Yarris has been one of the exonerated death row inmates who has attracted the most media attention. There has even been a movie produced about his life and he was compensated millions of dollars when exonerated. I contemplated that if one exonerated prisoner was to restore his life, it would be him.
For more than four years, I have followed Nick Yarris. When I first met him, he struck me as a person who has managed to forgive and to transform his traumatic experiences into a positive view on life. However, the better I got to know him, the more it became clear to me that as an exonerated death row inmate, you will forever be marked by the injustice done to you, no matter fame or fortune.

After interviewing Nick Yarris, I decided to approach other exonerees to find out if their experiences were similar to his. Unfortunately, they were. Most exonerees struggle to restore life. Some even say that returning to a normal life has been harder than adjusting to life on death row.

Read more from Steffen Hou

The intention of The Deprived–Innocent on Death Row is to investigate what leads to wrongful convictions and how people react when they become victims of an injustice that not only deprives them their freedom and family, but in a worst-case scenario, their lives. Do they lose the will to live, do they find meaning through religion, or do they become as evil as they have wrongfully been accused of being?

When I reviewed different cases of wrongful convictions, I was shocked by how easily people can end up on death row despite being innocent. This is often because society has failed to protect its own citizens when authorities have not conducted their duties properly or even when law enforcement officers have lied about their investigation and manufactured evidence. In other cases, the convicted has become a victim of false and vicious testimonies–even at times given by their own families and friends.

Therefore, I also wanted to investigate if innocent death row inmates can maintain trust in fellow man and that justice will prevail. Or do they become bitter and hateful toward the people who put them on death row?

Finally, I wanted to look into if the injustice they have experienced will always overshadow the joy of having regained freedom.
On a personal level, through my research, I have also tried to clarify if I believe it is fair that society demands “an eye for an eye.”

When I was a teenager, I saw an innocent young man being stabbed to death by a group of thugs. Witnessing the crime had a huge impact on me. I was scared and for years I feared that one day, I would become a victim. My immediate reaction was that perpetrators deserved the same punishment as their victims: death. However, I started wondering whether this was a legitimate punishment because the death penalty also kills innocent people.

I have tried to answer these questions and many others by telling the stories of 10 people who have all been affected by wrongful convictions and the death penalty.

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Author’s contact info:

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More reviews by Gina

Each Friday I send out my Friday Finds Newsletter sharing links to books, recipes, and various craft projects. You may find just what you need to make your weekend more enjoyable. Sign up from the website sidebar or at the bottom of the page (depending upon your device). I always respect your inbox!

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Posted 07/01/2019 by Gina in Book Reviews, Books, Non-fiction / 8 Comments

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8 responses to “Review – The Deprived by Steffen Hou”

  6. nancy Werking Poling

    This sounds like a good companion book for “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption,” by Bryan Stevenson–which I highly recommend.
    .
    I understand there’s a new movie out, as well: “True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality, a new documentary from HBO and Kunhardt Films, chronicles the ongoing efforts of the Equal Justice Initiative, founded by Stevenson, to bring impartiality and equality to the American criminal justice system.”

    Reply