AN EYE FOR AN EYE
They are battered women, grieving parents, and burglarized homeowners who responded to criminal violence by taking the law into their own hands. Their cases have struck a deep chord in American society. Are they victims of a failing judicial system or criminals themselves? True crime writer Gary Provost examines the stories of ordinary citizens who have taken on the roles of judge, jury and — sometimes — executioner. Are their acts a higher form of justice...or merely revenge? You decide:
* Bernhard Goetz, who shot four teenagers when they approached him on a subway train and demanded money
* The young man who gunned down his own friend for killing his teenaged sister in a drunk-driving accident
* The mother who risked her life to track down and apprehend her daughter's rapist
* "Grambo," the Dallas grandmother who held a burglar at gunpoint for forty-five minutes while waiting for the police
* The battered wife who hired a hit man to murder her husband after seventeen years of abuse
Fascinating, penetrating, and chilling, Into Their Own Hands is a controversial and thought-provoking look at what's wrong with crime and punishment in America today and what happens when victims don't just get mad — they get even.
