The United States needs someone who represents the poor and disenfranchised. Someone who has a seat at the table for any discussions of policy, funding, or priorities in the administration of justice. The United States needs a Defender General.

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.

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. Over her 40 years of lawyering, Andrea has been involved in several high-profile cases, including former Illinois Governor George Ryan.

Andrea's legal memoir, Angel of Death Row: My Life as a Death Penalty Defense Lawyer, 2010, received a starred review from Kirkus and was voted "Next Great Read" by the American Booksellers Association. her other published books include: The Feminine Sixth: Women in Criminal Defense. 2018, andThe Death Penalty: What's Keeping it Alive, 2015.

To find out more, visit her website at https://www.andrealyon.com/

Book Information
ISBN 9781538164655
Author Andrea D. Lyon
Format Hardback
Page Count 150
Imprint Rowman & Littlefield
Publisher Rowman & Littlefield
Weight(grams) 349g
Dimensions(mm) 228mm * 147mm * 18mm