The Deserving

What the Lives of the Condemned Reveal About American Justice

De: Elizabeth Vartkessian, Sister Helen Prejean - foreword

Narrado por: Elizabeth Vartkessian

Bloomsbury presents The Deserving, written and read by Elizabeth Vartkessian.

A groundbreaking new take on the American justice system from one of its unknown revolutionaries, offering a powerful new vision of responsibility, punishment, and repair.

"The first book I’m aware of to pull back the curtain on a life-saving field most have never heard of: mitigation." --Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, from the foreword

Elizabeth Vartkessian works with criminal defense teams as a mitigation specialist. She isn’t part of the Innocence Project; her clients are often legally guilty, and often of terrible crimes. Rather, her job is to spend hundreds of hours per case talking to the parents, siblings, teachers, and neighbors of a defendant, situating their crimes in context.

Founder and director of nonprofit mitigation team Advancing Real Change Inc., Vartkessian weaves powerful, gripping stories from her extraordinary career into an inspiring argument for dignity in American justice. Her unique experience has taught her that when personal or generational trauma enters the body, it finds its way out eventually, sometimes through violence. She contends that we cannot hold her clients solely responsible for their actions, nor can we continue to stomach harsh penalties that deny real justice to perpetrators and victims alike.

Amid the Trump administration’s record-high executions and calls to expand the use of the death penalty after decades of progress, The Deserving is required reading for a dangerous new era of rollbacks. Vartkessian offers a compelling, hope-filled vision of true rehabilitation replacing retribution.

©2026 Elizabeth Vartkessian, Sister Helen Prejean (P)2026 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Excellent portrayal of the importance of mitigation work

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the criminal legal system and/or capital punishment. I am a capital post-conviction attorney that only recently started doing capital work. I learned so much from this book. Vartkessian does an amazing job weaving in stories of actual clients to explain how people can end up committing terrible crimes while also exposing systemic issues that are pervasive in death penalty cases. The stories of her clients brought me to tears and emphasized why the work of mitigation specialists is so important. She brings humanity to the voice of the clients while never ignoring the impacts her clients had on others. I applaud her work as a mitigation specialist and with ARC and writing this book to bring her work to a broader audience.

Compassion is not lost

I believe every juror should read this book before performing their civic duties. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read in my life. From beginning to end the book explored all sides of the issue. It’s an excellent read.
To see someone so dedicated to not only humans, but to those who have been convicted of crimes, speaks volumes about Elizabeth’s character and integrity. She eloquently describes a very fixable problem and she even offers up suggestions.
I truly hope that 100 years from now history will know Elizabeth as the one who started real reform in America.

Everyone should read/listen!

I needed to know there was still humanity in the world. Inspiring. A real tear jerker. So insightful. I wish I could speak more intelligently to this book but I am so struck and moved by this narrative that it is difficult to explain how it impacted me. I am still processing it. I just believe that everyone who participates in this society needs to read/listen to this book.