Fixing Legal Injustice in America: The Case for a Defender General of the United States

by Andrea D. Lyon, Cynthia W. Roseberry Deputy Director for Policy at the National ACLU (Foreword by)

Overview

In these times of reckoning—at last—with America’s original sin of slavery and racist policies, with police misconduct, and with mass-incarceration, many in our country ask, “What can we do?”

In this powerful and insightful book, Andrea D. Lyon explicates what is wrong with the criminal justice system through clients’ stories and historical perspective, and makes the compelling case for the need for reform at the center of the system; not just its edges. Lyon, suggests that we should create an office of the Defender General of the United States and give it the same level of importance as the Attorney General and the Solicitor General. Such an office would not be held by someone who represents law enforcement, or corporate America, but rather by someone who represents and advocates for accused individuals, collectively before the powers that be. A Defender General would raise his or her voice against injustices like those involving the unnecessary killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, or the Texas Supreme Court’s refusal to let an innocent man, cleared by DNA, out of prison. The United States needs a Defender General.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538196939
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	05/07/2024
Pages:	150
Product dimensions:	5.92(w) x 8.95(h) x 0.47(d)

About the Author

Andrea D. Lyon is a criminal defense attorney, (the principal in the criminal defense firm Lyon Law), a death penalty expert, an author, a former professor and law school dean with over 40 years of experience. Her previous books include The Feminine Sixth: Women in Criminal Defense 2018, The Death Penalty: What’s Keeping it Alive, 2015,and Angel of Death Row: My Life as a Death Penalty Defense Lawyer, 2010. To find out more, visit her website at www.andrealyon.com

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: You Have a Right to An Attorney—Kind of

Chapter 2: The System Isn’t Broken; It Was Built This Way

Chapter 3: [Un]equal Justice: Racism’s Thumb on the Scales

Chapter 4: The Inequality Tax: The Economic Case for Criminal Justice Reform

Chapter 5: The War on Us: Laws that Caused Mass Incarceration

Chapter 6: What a Defender General’s Office Can Mean

Editorial Reviews

Andrea Lyon, a gifted lawyer, also proves to be a wonderful writer. Through the heart-rending stories of some of her clients, she proves her case beyond any doubt: The famously unequal treatment of the poor in US courts is due most fundamentally to the dramatic disparities in public resources afforded to prosecution and defense. Most important, Andrea Lyon tells us how to fix that problem.

Scott Turow

In Fixing Legal Injustice in America, Andrea Lyon, a veteran criminal defense attorney, urges that we need to create an Office of the Defender General of the United States – a counterbalance to the Office of the Attorney General. The book is compelling and enlightening. Part legal history lesson, part war stories, and part a call to action, Lyon drives home the need for a federal position to advocate for criminal defendants and their attorneys.

NACDL The Champion

Providing legal assistance to the indigent accused of crimes has been devalued, diminished and overlooked for centuries. Andrea Lyon makes a compelling argument that the status and role of the defender must change if our system is to become more reliable, fair and just.

Bryan Stevenson

Lyons, a criminal defense attorney and a death penalty expert, offers an interesting premise to fix the legal system in the US—a system in which “the need for criminal justice reform is salient and apparent.”…. Using cases that often had tragic outcomes, Lyons demonstrates how a defender general could step in and make sure that those in the criminal justice system are treated fairly. The office would be responsible for funding, advocacy, and policy; an outline is provided to implement these three areas. Lyons believes a defender general would be able to create standards for defending attorneys and consequences for less-than-honorable actions toward clients. With this idea, Lyons has started the conversation to repair a broken system of justice. This conversation needs to continue. Recommended. Undergraduates through faculty and practitioners.

Choice Reviews

Fixing Legal Injustice in America offers a heartfelt, poignant perspective on why the United States needs a Defender General, who will fight for the poor and oppressed. A Defender General will create a seat at the table where one simply has not existed before, and the Defender General will be able to create change. We all know lots of good people and organizations are working tirelessly to end mass incarceration and reform the criminal justice system. The Defender General will help to strengthen these individual, grassroots, and often disparate efforts by addressing policy, advocacy, and funding at the same level as the Attorney General of the United States. As Andrea Lyon so eloquently tells the reader through her stories and examples, the United States needs a Defender General. We need a seat at the table.

Sister Helen Prejean

One of our country’s most skilled public defenders, Andrea D. Lyon, brings us heartbreaking insights from the trenches to make a passionate case for the creation of a national Defender General—someone endowed with a powerful voice to protect the rights of the accused, correct wrongful convictions, and fight racism and other entrenched systemic problems. This is an engaging, thought-provoking, and persuasive book that will speak to everyone interested in fixing our broken criminal legal system.

Carol S. Steiker