Includes bibliographical references and index.

Behind the curtain : if people mess up, my client may die? -- A cruel and unusual job : you've got someone's life in your hand? -- Race and identity : it's not always what we think? -- The client : everyone is more than the worst thing they ever did? -- Gender dynamics : I'm your lawyer? -- The toll : you can't just turn it off? -- Defending the defenders : I've helped the lowest of the law. . . . I'm proud of doing that?

"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."-- Publisher's website