Gideon's Promise
A Public Defender Movement to Transform Criminal Justice
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
A criminal defense attorney “tugs at both the heartstrings and our consciences as he challenges America’s true commitment to justice” (Stacey Abrams), offering a blueprint for how public defense programs should work to end mass incarceration
Combining wisdom drawn from over a dozen years as a public defender and cutting-edge research in the fields of organizational and cultural psychology, Jonathan Rapping proposes a radical cultural shift to a “fiercely client-based ethos” driven by values-based recruitment training, awakening defenders to their role in upholding an unjust status quo, and a renewed pride in the essential role of moral lawyering in a democratic society.
Public defenders represent over 80% of those who interact with the court system, a disproportionate number of whom are poor, non-white citizens who rely on them to navigate the law on their behalf. More often than not, even the most well-meaning of those defenders are over-worked, under-funded, and incentivized to put the interests of judges and politicians above those of their clients in a culture that beats the passion out of talented, driven advocates, and has led to an embarrassingly low standard of justice for those who depend on the promises of Gideon v. Wainwright.
Through the story of founding Gideon’s Promise and anecdotes of his time as a defender and teacher, Rapping reanimates the possibility of public defenders serving as a radical bulwark against government oppression and a megaphone to amplify the voices of those they serve.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rapping, a MacArthur "genius grant" recipient and former public defender, describes in this impressive debut the history and philosophy of Gideon's Promise, his criminal justice reform organization. Named for Gideon v. Wainwright, the 1963 Supreme Court case establishing the constitutional right to counsel, Gideon's Promise seeks to build a community of public defenders committed to "procedural justice," "client-centered lawyering," and the idea that people are more than "the sum total of their worst acts." Rapping paints a bleak picture of the modern "conveyor belt" criminal justice system that creates impossible caseloads for public defenders, devalues the accused (80% of whom can't afford to hire a lawyer), leans on plea bargaining under threat of unaffordable bail, and prioritizes lawyers' relationships with judges over clients. To counteract these imbalances, Rapping trains lawyers to resist streamlining procedures that leave no time to collect information beyond police reports, adopt a narrative approach to "shape the universe of facts" at every step of the process, and commit to seeing their clients as people. He makes a convincing case that well-supported, values-based public defenders who prioritize incremental improvements in the face of systematic injustice can be effective change agents. This optimistic, well-articulated account is a must-read for policy makers and criminal-justice advocates.