Gideon's Promise

A Public Defender Movement to Transform Criminal Justice

Jonathan Rapping

$49.99

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Beacon Press
18 August 2020

Biography: general

A blueprint for criminal justice reform that puts a new generation of public defenders front and center in the fight for legal equality

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 reveals the pervasive issues inherent in our current system of public defense, and lays the foundation for how model public defense programs should work to end mass incarceration.

Public defenders represent over eighty percent 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.

However, rather than arguing for a change in rules that govern the actions of lawyers, judges, and other advocates, Rapping proposes a radical cultural shift to a ""fiercely client-based ethos"" driven by values-based recruitment and 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.

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.

By: Jonathan Rapping
Imprint: Beacon Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9780807064627
ISBN 10: 0807064629
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 18 August 2020
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

INTRODUCTION A Shared Vision PART I: VALUES CHAPTER 1 Voice for the Voiceless CHAPTER 2 The Evolving Narrative of Justice PART II: CULTURE CHAPTER 3 Routine Injustice CHAPTER 4 A Mighty Stream CHAPTER 5 The First Step Is Resistance CHAPTER 6 David’s Slingshot PART III: TRANSFORMATION CHAPTER 7 Closing the Gap CHAPTER 8 Until the Lion Learns to Write EPILOGUE The System’s Conscience Acknowledgments Notes Index

Jonathan Rapping is the Founder and President of Gideon's Promise, an organization dedicated to changing the culture and practice of public defense in America. He was awarded a 2014 MacArthur Foundation ""Genius"" Fellowship for his work as a criminal justice innovator. Rapping is a Professor at Atlanta's John Marshall Law School and Harvard Law School. He lives in Atlanta, GA with his wife and their two children.

Reviews for Gideon's Promise: A Public Defender Movement to Transform Criminal Justice

Over the last half century, America's reactionary investment of billions into police, prosecution, and prisons has resulted in over-incarceration and an extreme, unjust, unreliable system. This important exploration of the role of defenders is a vital and compelling corrective on how we balance the scales of justice. --Bryan Stevenson Jonathan Rapping is a true freedom fighter, heroically championing the rights of the condemned and the accused for more than two decades. His courageous and visionary leadership at Gideon's Promise is helping to build a movement of public defense lawyers determined to fight for those who have been discarded in the era of mass incarceration and to transform our criminal punishment system into a justice system--a transformation that is long overdue. --Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow If we truly believe black lives matter--indeed, that the lives of anyone who has been left behind matter--we must ensure they have a voice in the criminal legal system where so much damage is done. Gideon's Promise cautions us that these voices can never be heard without phenomenal public defenders who must speak for them. If we really care about the dignity of those impacted by our criminal justice policies, we must heed the call of this critically important book and view public defenders as indispensable to any solution. --Ben Crump, author of Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People