A plan for criminal justice reform that puts a brand-new generation of public defenders front and center in the fight for legal equality Combining knowledge drawn from over a lots years as a public defender and cutting-edge research in the fields of organizational and cultural psychology, Jonathan Rapping reveals the prevalent concerns inherent in our present system of public defense, and lays the structure for how model public defense programs need to 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 bad, non-white residents who rely on them to browse the law on their behalf. Usually, even the most well-meaning of those protectors are over-worked, under-funded, and incentivized to put the interests of judges and politicians above those of their customers 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 guarantees of Gideon v. Wainwright. Rather than arguing for a change in rules that govern the actions of lawyers, judges, and other supporters, Rapping proposes an extreme cultural shift to a “fiercely client-based ethos” driven by values-based recruitment and training, awakening defenders to their function in promoting an unjustified status quo, and a restored pride in the vital role of moral lawyering in a democratic society. Through the story of establishing Gideon’s Promise and anecdotes of his time as a defender and teacher, Rapping reanimates the possibility of public defenders working as a radical bulwark versus government oppression and a megaphone to magnify the voices of those they serve.
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