Q: In "The Confession," the governor of Texas uses the death penalty for political advantage and refuses to examine evidence that would exonerate an innocent prisoner. I would be surprised if he would support our current death penalty system.
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Q: Do you think Twain would have supported abolishing the death penalty?Ī: I have yet to see where he spoke on the subject, but he had very strong views against our system of trial by jury. The rate of executions is down in most states. The trend is away from death penalty convictions. After several hundred high-profile exonerations, we as a culture are much more suspicious, and rightfully so. I think Americans are more suspicious of the authorities than 20 years ago. Wrongful convictions are not innocent mistakes. Almost every wrongful conviction could be prevented if the police and prosecutors had handled the case properly. Why are you so passionately committed to this issue?Ī: As a former criminal defense lawyer, former legislator, and now a writer of legal fiction, I can think of no greater injustice than the accusation, trial, conviction, and imprisonment of a person who is innocent of the crime.
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Q: "The Confession" is about the execution of an innocent man, and you are on the board of directors of the Innocence Project, which works to free wrongly convicted prisoners. I love humor and satire and tend to use them too much. Q: Have Twain's ideas and books influenced what you choose to write about?Ī: Yes, but only when it comes to social injustice and racial intolerance. His books continue to be popular because they are highly entertaining, and, for the most part, touch on important themes. In high school, I read "Roughing It," "Life on the Mississippi" and "Innocents Abroad." I was in Reno once and became captivated with his days in Virginia City and San Francisco. I even formed a Tom Sawyer Club when I was 12-years old, but it got itself disbanded after some trouble arose.
As a kid, I adored "Tom Sawyer" and "Huck Finn" and read them for pure entertainment. I may talk about his amazing life, his hatred of injustice and intolerance, his cynicism of politics, and so on.Ī: I have been attracted to Mark Twain at various stages of my life. A: I will talk about Mark Twain and those of his works that entertained and inspired me.