JUROR NUMBER 2

Abraham Cucuta, 35, was convicted in 2018 of first-degree murder for two “brutal and senseless” gang-connected killings. When the trial concluded, Sigel agonized: “Why? And there is plenty of blame to go around.” In this nonfiction book, the author, a former journalist, trains his reportorial eye on the courtroom proceedings as well as “how and why the failures of the New York City schools, its public housing projects and its criminal justice system, contributed to these outcomes.” He also apportions blame to the families that fail “to do what families are supposed to do for their children.” The victims, he notes, “were still children when they first began joining gangs, robbing tourists or peddling crack.” Sigel writes with compassion. If this were a real-life Twelve Angry Men, he’d be cast in the Henry Fonda role (although in announcing the guilty verdict, Fonda probably wouldn’t have spoken louder than he should, indulging in a regretful “piece of theater”). The trial takes up the first half of the compact, engrossing work, and Sigel serves as an otherwise objective observer, laying out the opposing attorneys’ cases and noting troubling holes in the prosecutor’s presentation (a lack of physical evidence connecting the accused to the crime). The author takes his commitment seriously: “While we owe the defendant a fair trial, we also have an obligation…to see that justice is done.” The second half of the timely book is devoted to Sigel’s “search for why.” He skillfully puts a human face on the denizens of run-down housing projects, overwhelmed schools, and the police. There is hope in the vivid success stories of nonprofit organizations trying to break the cycle of recidivism.

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