Susan Penman is an assistant director at the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University. She holds a doctorate in American studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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"For nearly three decades of the post-civil rights era, the city of New Orleans sat at the nerve center of race, crime, and policing. Uncertain Justice takes us behind the headlines and into the often-hidden corridor of power, the Orleans Parish District Attorney's office. By focusing on the actors who prosecute crimes, Susan Penman provides us with a more complete understanding of the criminal justice system. Uncertain Justice is a must-read!"-Leonard N. Moore, author of Black Rage in New Orleans: Policy Brutality and African American Activism from World War II to Hurricane Katrina "Penman follows the race and class dynamics among voters in New Orleans and how Harry Connick Sr.'s appeal as district attorney changed over the years. At the same time, she shows how Connick embodied larger movements in criminal prosecution during the 1980s and 1990s. Chief prosecutors across the U.S. ramped up their use of prisons to address all manner of public-safety issues and continued on that path long after crime rates began to drop. Connick's story reveals the upper limits of the prison strategy and shows how it is a hard habit to kick."-Ronald Wright, coeditor of The Oxford Handbook of Prosecutors and Prosecution "A much-needed history of Harry Connick Sr.'s multi-decade reign as district attorney of New Orleans, Uncertain Justice examines how the tough-on-crime tactics of the 'Singing DA' transformed the Big Easy into both the 'incarceration capital of the world' and the 'exoneration capital' of the U.S. Susan Penman has written a study of politics and power worthy of Robert Caro."-Rien Fertel, author of Brown Pelican