A riveting account of how the US criminal legal system punishes millions without conviction—asking us to rethink the freedoms we give up for the illusion of safety.

Every encounter with the criminal legal system, from a traffic stop to a day in jail, carries a human cost. This cost rests on a fragile bargain at the heart of our democracy: we give the government power in exchange for protection. But how much of our liberty are we willing to surrender for the promise of safety? 

In Collateral Damage, attorneys Justin and Zach Brooks take readers on a devastating tour through the criminal legal system, exposing the real-life trade-offs of this false promise. Blending gripping personal stories with legal analysis, they trace the long arc of America’s struggle between fear and freedom—from the Red Scare and Japanese American internment to the evolution of criminal procedure, civil forfeiture, and today’s extrajudicial killings, offering pragmatic reforms along the way. The result is an eye-opening portrait of a system that punishes millions without ever sending them to prison and a powerful warning to rethink whether the balance we’ve struck truly reflects the values we claim to hold.