Capital Defense : : Inside the Lives of America's Death Penalty Lawyers / / Maya Pagni Barak, Jon B. Gould.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter New York University Press Complete eBook-Package 2019
• VerfasserIn: Gould, Jon B.,; Barak, Maya Pagni,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2019]; ©2019
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

The unsung heroes who defend the accused from the ultimate punishmentWhat motivates someone to make a career out of defending some of the worst suspected killers of our time? In Capital Defense, Jon B. Gould and Maya Pagni Barak give us a glimpse into the lives of lawyers who choose to work in the darkest corner of our criminal justice system: death penalty cases. Based on in-depth personal interviews with a cross-section of the nation’s top capital defense teams, the book explores the unusual few who voluntarily represent society’s “worst of the worst.”With a compassionate and careful eye, Gould and Barak chronicle the experiences of American lawyers, who-like soldiers or surgeons-operate under the highest of stakes, where verdicts have the power to either “take death off the table” or put clients on “the conveyor belt towards death.” These lawyers are a rare breed in a field that is otherwise seen as dirty work and in a system that is overburdened, under-resourced, and overshadowed by social, cultural, and political pressures.Examining the ugliest side of our criminal justice system, Capital Defense offers an up-close perspective on the capital litigation process and its impact on the people who participate in it.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- 1. Behind the Curtain -- 2. A Cruel and Unusual Job -- 3. Race and Identity -- 4. The Client -- 5. Gender Dynamics -- 6. The Toll -- Conclusion -- Acknowledgments -- Appendix -- Notes -- Index -- About the Authors