As an Assistant United States Attorney, John Kroger pursued high-profile cases against mafia killers, drug kingpins, and Enron executives. In "Convictions," Kroger reveals how to flip a perp, how to conduct a cross, how to work an informant, how to placate a hostile judge. Starting from his time as a green recruit and ending at the peak of his career, he steers us through the complexities and ethical dilemmas in the life of a prosecutor, where the battle in the courtroom is only the culmination of long and intricate investigative work. John Kroger is the Attorney General of Oregon. A graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, he previously served as a United States Marine, federal prosecutor, and law professor. Most Americans know little about the work of assistant United States attorneys, the federal prosecutors who possess sweeping authority to investigate and prosecute the nation's most dangerous criminals. As a federal prosecutor for the U.S. government, John Kroger pursued high-profile cases against Mafia killers, drug kingpins, and Enron executives. Starting from his time as a green recruit and concluding at the peak of his career, he steers readers through the complexities of life as a prosecutor, where the battle fought within the courtroom is only the culmination of long and intricate investigative work and hard-fought negotiations. He reveals the strategies he has used to "flip" a perpetrator into confessing, to conduct a cross-examination, to work with an informant, to placate a hostile judge.
Kroger relates it all with a novelist's eye for detail and a powerful sense of the ethical conflicts he faces. Often dissatisfied with the judicial system, he explains why law enforcement policies frequently fail in critical areas like drug enforcement and white-collar crime. He proposes new ways in which the U.S. can fight crime more effectively, encouraging citizens to pressure their lawmakers to adopt more productive policies. This is an unflinching portrait of a crucial but little-understood part of the American justice system, and Kroger is an eloquent guide. "John Kroger's "Convictions" is the best book about being a federal prosecutor since Jeffrey Toobin's "Opening Arguments." It is an engrossing look at how some of the most famous criminal cases of our era were built and won, and probably the frankest discussion ever of the extraordinary ethical dilemmas that go with wielding the government's crushing power over lives."--Scott Turow, author of "Limitations "
"John Kroger's "Convictions" is the best book about being a federal prosecutor since Jeffrey Toobin's "Opening Arguments." It is an engrossing look at how some of the most famous criminal cases of our era were built and won, and probably the frankest discussion ever of the extraordinary ethical dilemmas that go with wielding the government's crushing power over lives."--Scott Turow, author of "Limitations
""I have read dozens of books by and about prosecutors. Kroger's is one of the best."--Steve Weinberg, "The Oregonian"
"A thoughtful, compulsively readable assessment of the American justice system's struggles with the greatest social evils of our time . . . Kroger] accomplishes more in a few hundred pages than many professional journalists and legal scholars achieve in a thousand."--Matt Buckingham, "Willamette Week"
""Convictions" is many things at once, all brilliantly: a mob story, a drug kingpin story, a white-collar corruption story. But at its heart and most profoundly it is the coming-of-age story of a young man who has everything it takes to be great at his job, only to discover this isn't enough to do good in the world. Kroger wins here as he did in the courtroom--with simplicity and candor, passion and integrity, and a ferocious, persuasive intelligence."--Susan Choi, author of "American Woman
""As a former assistant district attorney, I can identify with John Kroger's" Convictions. " It is straightforward and truthful, and it shows life as it really is in the 'pit.' This searching memoir is a suspenseful and enlightening reading for lay people and members of the legal profession alike."--Joe Jamail, author of "Lawyer: My Trials and Jubilations "
""Convictions" is the extraordinarily intimate account of a prosecutor's coming of age. John Kroger takes readers by the hand and invites us to boldly face, along with him, the thriving parallel dystopia of the world's most dangerous criminals. Replete with fascinating detail that illuminated for me a maze of law enforcement issues that I'd never grasped before, this book is essential reading for an informed citizenry."--Terri Jentz, author of "Strange Piece of Paradise
"""Convictions" is a mesmerizing account of federal criminal prosecution from the inside. John Kroger has been there, fighting the good fight against drug dealers, Mafia kingpins, and corporate sleazes. But the good fighter does not always win, and winning sometimes requires compromises along the way. For anyone interested in true crime and criminal justice, this is a must read."--Peter Charles Hoffer, author of "The Supreme Court: An Essential History" and Distinguished Research Professor, University of Georgia
"A star federal prosecutor spills the dirt about the tough moral compromises his job required. If Kroger's life were a film, it would seem almost ridiculous: Rambunctious teen from the Houston suburbs signs up with the Marines for lack of anything better to do and ends up distinguishing himself in an elite Recon unit; graduates from Yale in philosophy, works as deputy policy director for Clinton's 1992 campaign, then gets a degree from Harvard Law; winds up a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn chasing down counterfeiters, putting mob assassins behind bars and helping dismantle what was left of New York's Five Families. A tough guy with a scalpel-like intellect and a streak of humility, Kroger tells his life story like it was no big deal. He truly doesn't se
