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One More Question

4/19/2013

At the end of the talk at the State University of New York at Albany's School of Criminal Justice this past Monday, Professor James Acker comes up to ask one of the final questions of the evening and then to thank the audience members for coming.

Earlier in the day, I had the opportunity to speak to two of Jim's classes and to enjoy the lively conversation. Among many other publications, Jim is co-editor of the book Wounds That Do Not Bind: Victim-Based Perspectives on the Death Penalty, and he has been instrumental in establishing the Capital Punishment Research Initiative.

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What does it feel like?

4/17/2013

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Law professor Susan Bandes reviewed Fighting for Their Lives in Jotwell yesterday. Jotwell is "The Journal of Things We Like (Lots)," and it's a great honor to be in that category for someone as smart and thoughtful as Susan Bandes. Here's the start of the review:

The question of how it feels to do the work we do receives little attention in mainstream legal literature. We tend to treat the very acknowledgement of our work’s emotional aspects as downright unlawyerlike — a challenge to law’s rational and rigorous essence. Yet as this book beautifully illustrates, the question of how it feels to do our work cannot be cordoned off from the issues at the center of the teaching and practice of law: what it means to be an ethical, zealous, effective counselor and advocate with a satisfying, sustainable legal career.

Susannah Sheffer sheds light on all these issues, though she sets out to answer a narrower question: what it is like to be a capital defense lawyer specializing in post-conviction challenges. What is it like for these lawyers, she asks, not in the courtroom or the offices of the capital habeas unit, but “in the middle of the night, in the pit of the stomach, in their last visits or phone calls with clients who are about to be taken to the execution chamber, in the mornings after, in their lives with their families, in their dreams and flashbacks and quiet moments alone?” What is it like to do this work in the face of incomprehension and even hostility from the larger community? What motivates such lawyers and how do they keep doing what they do? Sheffer explores these issues in conversations with twenty capital defense lawyers in this insightful and deeply affecting book.

Read the whole review.

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WAMC

4/16/2013

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Here's a link to the audio of the interview that Joe Donahue of WAMC radio did with me yesterday. Joe is a thoughtful interviewer who, as he says, "reads every single book."

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Hard Not to be Moved

4/10/2013

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Here's an excerpt from the thoughtful review of Fighting for Their Lives that was posted a few days ago on the American Criminal Law Review's blog:

No matter what you think about capital punishment, it is hard not to be moved by the stories in this book. The stories are both tragic and uplifting, and give an additional dimension to an important debate. The difficulty of working in a thankless job trying to protect those that a large portion of the population believe deserve to die, combined with the emotional toll of nearly certain losses that end in execution is something that very few can relate to, but there is a benefit to a greater understanding of what is arguably one of the most controversial institutions in American law. It is doubtful that this book will change many minds; it enhances the tragedy of the death penalty for those who oppose it, and one can easily imagine an outspoken supporter asking why we concentrate on the lawyers when it is the victims of these criminals who should be our concern. Regardless, the book is a fascinating look into an extraordinary community within the legal profession, and adds a few more important voices to the death penalty debate.

I'm curious -- what do you readers think of the speculation that it's doubtful the book will change many minds?

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Two Upcoming Events

4/4/2013

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I'll be speaking at New York Law School's Justice Action Center on Tuesday, April 9th, at 12:50, and at the University at Albany's School of Criminal Justice on Monday, April 15th at 5:30. If you're at either event, come up and say hello.

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How they can keep doing it

4/2/2013

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Blogger Ted Lehmann has posted a review of Fighting for Their Lives today. Here's an excerpt:

Many people ask, “How can anyone seek to halt these executions?” In answer to this question and many others like it, Susannah Sheffer has written a heart rending and soul wrenching account of a series of interviews with twenty attorneys who have taken on the responsibility of defending these clients and answering these questions. ... Sheffer explores through a series of interviews the motivations, costs, rewards, grief, and loss experienced by twenty representative attorneys willing to look deep inside themselves to examine why they do what they do, what it costs them, and how they can keep doing it.
This book presents a carefully structured and nuanced exploration of the inner lives of attorneys practicing post conviction capital defense...

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One More Question

What does it feel like?

WAMC

Hard Not to be Moved

Two Upcoming Events

How they can keep doing it

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