Perseverance in Criminal Justice Walsh and Matthews Book Review

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Bringing Adam Home by Standiford and Matthews (2011) is a book about the case of Adam Walsh, murdered by Otis Toole, and how the crime went unsolved for a quarter of a century. The book tells how John Walsh, father of Adam, became an activist and took to television to help others solve their own cold cases. Meanwhile it tells how Matthews persevered with the case and ultimately located the evidence to implicate Toole and close the case. The book offers several lessons on the how perseverance and technology are two essential elements in the pursuit of criminal justice in today's world. From a Christian standpoint, the book bears out the truth of Scripture, which exhorts all Christians to let perseverance do its work and bring all things to maturity, leaving nothing lacking. This book is an excellent example of how perseverance is a much needed characteristic for any investigator.

Bring Adam Home

Standiford and Matthews' (2011) Bringing Adam Home is a summary of the events that transpired from the time that six-year-old Adam Walsh was kidnapped and killed in 1981 to the time when the case was finally solved a quarter of a century later, thanks to the tireless efforts of Joe Matthews and the parents of Adam, John and Reve, who dedicated their lives to crusading for children and the victims of unsolved crimes (Walsh produced and hosted America's Most Wanted and both were behind the passing of the Missing Children Act in 1982 and the creation of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 1984 as well as the AMBER Alert program in 2003). Yet it was the solving of the murder of their own son that finally brought closure to a pivotal episode in their lives and exposed the flaws of the criminal justice system that allowed the perpetrator to go so long without facing justice. This paper will critique Bringing Adam Home from a criminal justice and Christian/biblical worldview to show how faith, perseverance and the dedication of just men can serve as the framework for how the criminal justice system should ideally work.

As Standiford and Matthews (2011) show, Adam's killer Ottis Toole actually confessed to the crime, yet prosecutors refused to charge him as a result of a lack of evidence and the fact that Toole later recanted on his confession. When, finally, in 2008, police finally announced that Toole was indeed the killer (Toole had died in 1996), the case was closed -- but a debacle in the chain of custody of evidence showed how shoddy police work could lead to a killer going unpunished for a crime for years.

In the case of Toole, the evidence that was lost consisted of the blood-stained carpet from Toole's car among others "as well as the car itself" (Standiford, Matthews, 2011, p. 212) -- but the evidence that remained -- such as the luminal-enhanced photographs of the blood-stained shoes, carpet, floorboards and machete suspected of being used in the decapitation that Toole described as his and everything that had passed into the public record (Standiford, Matthews, 2011, p. 300) -- was sufficient enough to allow investigators to conclude that Toole had been the killer.

The issue of evidence and the retention of evidence in this case was indicative of the progress that needed to be made in the criminal justice system regarding the advent of technology such as DNA testing and what should be kept on file and what thrown out. The sheriff who destroyed the carpet samples did so because they had already been tested and the results deemed "inconclusive" and therefore saw no "point in keeping them" (Standiford, Matthews, 2011, p. 212). While this may have been standard operating procedure in the1980s, the need to retain samples could have been tested later and more proficiently down the road -- and this was something that the criminal justice system had to learn: namely, that empirical evidence (such as DNA testing) can make all the difference in a cold case like Adam's (Findley, 2002, p. 333). Indeed, it was the use of technology that eventually allowed it to be determined that Toole was the killer: the luminal-enhanced photographs taken of the evidence, which showed where blood residue remained on pieces of evidence even though it was unseen to the naked eye, were proof that Toole did what he said he did back in 1981.

The relationship between criminal justice and technology has always been a tenuous one, as it is typically conceived that the process of criminal justice is best conducted through an a "adversarial process, faith in the rules of evidence ...

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faith in the common sense of police" (Findley, 2002, p. 333). But as Matthews showed, sometimes it is perseverance, determination and an unrelenting will to focus on every piece of evidence collected in order to submit the proof beyond a reasonable doubt needed to convict that brings cases to a close.

From a criminal justice perspective, the book by Standiford and Matthews (2011) shows how essential perseverance and technology are to every case in the modern era. Had either one been lacking in the Walsh case, the murder never would have been solved. But thanks to the efforts by John and Reve as well as by Matthews himself, the evidence was never fully thrown out -- and thanks to the police who used luminal to photograph for blood residue of Toole's possessions (prior to their being lost), the case could finally be closed. For it was John and Reve who begged Matthews to return to the case and bring it to a close a quarter century later, and it was Matthews who went back to the evidence and turned over ever piece of it until he found something that would prove that Toole's confession was legitimate -- that he had used the machete (the blood residue on the handle showed it). It was this combination -- perseverance and technology that enabled the criminal justice system to bring justice to the Walsh case. In today's world, when a "a child is abducted or reported missing every 40 seconds," that kind of perseverance and technology is desperately needed to ensure that the criminal justice system is doing all it can to bring justice to all the cases involving child victims -- and all victims for that matter (Carpenter, 2016, p. 449).

Thus, those who work in the criminal justice system should be aware that nothing is resolved, nothing is solved, nothing is carried through to its conclusion without perseverance -- and the utilization of the most advanced technology available can also help in the solving of crimes. These are the two main points that emerge from the book by Standiford and Matthews (2011).

From a Christian/biblical perspective the book is also meaningful. It shows how what Proverbs 28:1 says is true: "The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion." In the case of Toole, he did flee -- out to the desert with Adam Walsh, where he raped and killed him. Then he continued fleeing, running from his guilt; though he could not refrain from confessing -- but even then, he recanted his confessions, throwing cold water on the case that prosecutors and police attempted to bring against him. Yet, thanks to the boldness of John and Reve Walsh and to the boldness of Matthews in never giving up, justice was finally brought, even if Toole was already dead by that point. The book shows that in criminal justice, the righteous must be bold -- because truth demands it; otherwise there will be no force, no willpower, no determination to see anything through to its conclusion. Criminal justice is not a machine that works by pushing buttons and sending cases on a conveyor belt where they come out all wrapped up at the end of the process. Criminal justice is a system that depends upon human beings, who must square off with themselves and with forces of good and evil as they strive to make a difference in the world.

As the Bible also says, "The truth will set you free," (John 8:32) and in the case of John Walsh, it did exactly that as the book shows. All the John had accomplished through his years of activism following the murder of his son -- the television show that helped solve countless cold cases through the years (Miles, 2005), the Adam Walsh Act and the center for missing and exploited children -- all of it contributed to ease the pain and give purpose and meaning to John's life, filling a small part of the whole left behind by the tragic murder of his son (Standiford, Matthews, 2011, p. 5). But nothing could fill it completely so long as it remained a cold case. Thus, the man who dedicated his life to helping others bring justice to their lives, never found any brought to his -- until Matthews went back to the evidence one….....

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