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What motivates someone to make a career out of defending some of the worst suspected killers of our time? In 'Capital Defense', Jon B. Gould and Maya Pagni Barak give us a glimpse into the lives of lawyers who choose to work in the darkest corner of our criminal justice system: death penalty cases. Based on in-depth personal interviews with a cross-section of the nation's top capital defense teams, the book explores the unusual few who voluntarily represent society's "worst of the worst." With a compassionate and careful eye, Gould and Barak chronicle the experiences of American lawyers, who-like soldiers or surgeons-operate under the highest of stakes, where verdicts have the power to either "take death off the table" or put clients on "the conveyor belt towards death." These lawyers are a rare breed in a field that is otherwise seen as dirty work and in a system that is overburdened, under-resourced, and overshadowed by social, cultural, and political pressures. Examining the ugliest side of our criminal justice system, 'Capital Defense' offers an up-close perspective on the capital litigation process and its impact on the people who participate in it.

Defense (Criminal procedure) --- Criminal defense lawyers --- Capital punishment --- United States. --- PTSD. --- attorney-client relations. --- capital punishment. --- cause lawyers. --- community of practice. --- coping strategies. --- criminal defense. --- criminal justice system. --- defense lawyers. --- discrimination. --- emotional work. --- feminization. --- gendered work. --- identity. --- insiders versus outsiders. --- intersectionality. --- legal profession. --- mitigation investigation. --- morality. --- sociology of law. --- trauma.