  | Book Details Title: Guilty People |
Book DescriptionReview “Extraordinary, profoundly, moving…. I know of no other book that says as much about a defense lawyer’s motivations, self-doubt, frustrations. I finished it with tears in my eyes.” — Anthony Lewis, on Case of a Lifetime“A captivating, emotionally intense investigation of the complicated relationship between truth and the justice system.” — Kirkus Review, on Case of a Lifetime“A substantial work…. Smith examines a range of complex issues with insight and wit… In the end, the book transcends lawyers and clients, guilt and innocence, crime and punishment. It is a testament to what can happen when one person reaches out to another in need.” — Sister Helen Prejean, on Case of a Lifetime”In discussing her individual clients’ circumstances, Smith transmits a simple message that seeing ourselves, or parts of ourselves, in people who commit crime may be the first step to exacting change in our justice systems. If that be her primary objective, Guilty People meets the mark.”, Law 360 Read more About the Author ABBE SMITH is an American criminal defense attorney, professor of law at Georgetown University, Washington D.C., and director of Georgetown’s Criminal Defense & Prisoner Advocacy Clinic and E. Barrett Prettyman Fellowship Program. She is the author of Case of a Lifetime: A Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Story and Carried Away: The Chronicles of a Feminist Cartoonist. Read more Customers Review: Abbe Smith’s first book, Case of A Lifetime: A Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Story, was about her decades-long defense of an innocent woman who languished in prison because she refused to take a plea or express remorse for a crime she did not commit. Guilty People is the complement to that book — the tale of many cases, spanning a full career, with defendants more typical of those a criminal defense attorney represents: those who are factually guilty. But Smith has an appreciation for these defendants, too, and recognizes that but for better circumstances growing up, lives less pressured by racism and poverty and just bad luck, many, if not most people probably have a latent criminal in them. She looks for the good in people. Even for those who are so twisted as to be utterly unsympathetic, Smith’s affinity for the mothers of defendants propels her to give each case her best, and to mentor young attorneys at the Georgetown Law Criminal Defense and Prisoner Advocacy Clinic as they and fellows with the E. Barrett Prettyman Fellowship Program represent the full range of defendants. Smith reconciles her feminism with the defense of rapists, and argues that even for the most violent offenders, the U.S. system of justice imposes sentences that are vastly too long to serve any purpose. This book seems to be her book length take on the anthology she edited, How Can You Represent Those People?, as she explores her psychology and that of other criminal defense attorneys amid her descriptions of cases, the ethical questions they raise, and the policy points she makes about our justice system. Even for those with a tough-on-crime prosecutorial bent, this book offers many points for finding common ground, and it shows numerous instances of truly alarming conduct by judges. For those who wonder if Alicia Florrick’s experience when she tried being a court-appointed defense attorney in The Good Wife was realistic, as attorneys had only minutes to meet their client, without privacy, before entering pleas, she offers the dispiriting answer of “yes” — at least in misdemeanor court in many jurisdictions. One of the most appealing aspects of this book is that Smith does not set herself up as a hero, but rather as a human who has much in common with her clients, who themselves must be seen as full humans, not just as the labels given to them by their worst acts: thieves, rapists, even murderers. Anyone interested in poverty law or inequities in the U.S., legal ethics, criminal law, jurisprudence, even just advice on how to keep going professionally in the face of work that could lead to burnout or despair would find Guilty People a great read. Don’t be fearful that Abbe Smith is a professor — Guilty People is gloriously free of legal jargon; devoid of long passages giving close readings of cases; lacking in must-read footnotes making key legal points. It’s just well-written and insightful, with a novelist’s ability to depict individual characters.
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2 reviews