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."
0 Comments
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? 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.
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... Thanks to BookPeople, Austin's great indie bookstore, for hosting the reading earlier this week. We had a good crowd and some thoughtful questions during the Q & A. Also had a terrific time discussing the nuances of interviewing with the kindred spirits at the Texas After Violence Project, and a wonderful and inspiring meeting with members of Austin IN Connection, who then posted this on their organization's Facebook page: AINC supported a small gathering this afternoon with Susannah Sheffer where she spoke about her book "Fighting For Their Lives." Not only is she deeply intelligent and humane, she is humble about what she has done - which is, simply, to listen thoughtfully to the experiences of capital defense attorneys and sensitively report back through the pages of her book. UNBELIEVABLY inspiring, important and highly relevant to psychotherapists or, really, anyone in the trenches tangling with the many faces of human suffering. Getting to talk with others in those very trenches is arguably the best thing about publishing a book like this one. Thanks to all who made such discussion possible. If you are anywhere near Austin, Texas, I hope to see you at the reading, talk, and booksigning at BookPeople on Tuesday, March 19th at 7:00 PM.
While in Austin, I will also be speaking to a group of mental health professionals who are involved with Austin in Connection, and to the oral historians at the Texas After Violence Project. After that, I'll head to the Psychotherapy Networker Symposium in Washington, DC -- not to give a public talk but to listen to the high-quality presentations that the symposium offers each year. Jeffrey Gamso's review of Fighting for Their Lives on his blog "For the Defense" is exceptionally thoughtful -- really, it's as much an essay as a review -- and includes some of his own stories of defending clients facing the death penalty. Do check it out. Here's one brief quote:
Fighting for Their Lives isn't the only book about capital defense lawyers. There are, in fact, quite a lot. Most are told from the outside, by a writer who tells stories of heroic lawyers battling the system, fighting for their clients. They may try to dig into the personal, but they don't mostly get beyond the superficial anecdote. A few lawyers have written their own versions. But they tend toward war stories. Sheffer's book is personal. How it is to be who they are. ... Really, Sheffer's book stands alone, I think. Q & A with Steve Hall on his StandDown Texas Project blog! Here's an excerpt:
Q. What led you to write this book? A. I am always interested in people’s internal, emotional experience, and in terms of the death penalty, most of my work has involved looking at, and writing about, its impact on various affected people – particularly murder victims’ family members and family members of people who have been executed. Curiosity about the effect on defense attorneys was sort of a natural outgrowth of that work. I knew that this was a pretty unexplored area of the death penalty landscape, and in fact as I proceeded with the interviews for the book, I learned even more vividly and powerfully how reluctant defense attorneys have been to talk openly about the emotional impact of their work. I’m interested in how people cope with loss and specifically in how people in helping professions -- people who devote themselves to trying to help and even save other people -- manage internally when that effort fails. Read the whole thing. I appreciate the thoughtful review of FIghting for Their Lives in the current issue of Foreword magazine. Here are a couple of excerpts:
In this revealing analysis of the legal profession, researcher Susannah Sheffer interviews long-time capital defense attorneys with the goal of answering this question: How does it feel to know that your job is to save a person’s life? Sheffer has written about and worked on death penalty-related issues for fifteen years. Here, she presents an informative and compelling description of the responsibility and personal anguish attorneys of death row clients feel about their role in the death penalty process. And: Sheffer’s insightful book will be of interest to all capital defense attorneys and others working in the judicial system, as well as to those who work on death penalty issues in other contexts, including politicians, journalists, and advocates. It will further appeal to readers working in high-pressure jobs and facing the same conflicting feelings about their own professions. By so thoroughly depicting the mindset of a capital defense attorney, while still acknowledging opposing views, Sheffer presents a highly persuasive argument against the death penalty. Fighting for Their Lives serves to inform and also encourage readers to consider the effect the death penalty has on all involved in the process, as well as society at large. Read the whole review. Marquette Law School's conference on restorative justice and the ultimate penal sanction a couple of weeks ago included a panel on the impact on lasyers, and I was able to participate and to speak about Fighting for Their Lives. Here is a video; the lawyer panel starts at about 3:45.
|
AuthorSusannah Sheffer is the author of several books and articles, most recently Fighting for Their Lives: Inside the Experience of Capital Defense Attorneys (Vanderbilt University Press, 2013) Archives
October 2013
Categories |