Living With Conviction: A True Crime Memoir by Toby Dorr, Review by Jessie Hopkins

As a big fan of true crime to begin with, I was hooked from the foreward.

Toby did some wonderful things from inside the jail walls. Things that changed the jail systems she was in. The way she talks about how she got through her sentencing and used that time to heal herself is exactly what one hopes when they know someone that is serving time.

Between the moves and the friendships forged in prison, Toby came to terms with many things in her life, some that she has known and others she hadn’t realized prior to her time behind bars. She continues to grow as a person outside and acknowledge her past.

One of the main lessons this book is the way it shows that a person is not just the sum of their mistakes but so much more. That there may be deep-seated things going on at the core of the “good person” and that everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about. There is always room for growth in people, and they should not be defined by their greatest mistakes.