Fighting for Their Lives

Inside the Experience of Capital Defense Attorneys

By: Susannah Sheffer

Narrated by: Sheree Galpert

Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

How do attorneys who represent clients facing the death penalty cope with the stress and trauma of their work? Through conversations with 20 of the most experienced and dedicated post-conviction capital defenders in the United States, Fighting for Their Lives explores this emotional territory for the first time. What it is like for these capital defenders in their last visits or phone calls with clients who are about to be taken to the execution chamber? Or the next mornings, in their lives with their families, in their dreams and flashbacks and moments alone in the car? What is it like to do this work year after year? (These attorneys had, on average, spent nineteen years doing capital defense.)

Through vivid interviews amplified by the author's responses and commentary, these attorneys reveal aspects of their internal experience that they have never talked about until now. How do capital defenders manage the weight of the responsibility they carry? To what extent do they experience symptoms of trauma in the aftermath of losing a client to execution or as a result of the cumulative effects of engaging in capital defense work? What can we learn from capital defenders not only about the deep and long-term effects of the death penalty but also about broader human questions of hope, effectiveness, success, failure, strength, fragility, and perseverance?

The book is published by Vanderbilt University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©2013 Vanderbilt University Press (P)2022 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Sheffer's insightful book will be of interest to all capital defense attorneys and others working in the judicial system." (Foreword)

"A searing account of rights and laws, crime and punishment." (Kirkus Reviews)

"Takes readers beyond the courtroom and execution chambers to explore how capital defense attorneys cope when they can't save a client...sobering and intimate." (Publishers Weekly)

Fantastic

Excellent narration by Sheree Galpert on a topic I had known very little about. Sheree keeps the listener thoroughly engaged through the wonderful writing by Susannah Sheffer. An incredible amount of thought and research went into the writing of this book, and equally to its narration on Audible. Highly recommend!