Summary
- The Cost of Plea Bargains: Reflections and Recommendations from the ABA Plea Bargain Task Force is reviewed.
- How to Be Abe Lincoln: Seven Steps to Leading a Legendary Life is reviewed.
Professional Practice
David Ball with Elliot Abrams, Emilia Beskind, Edward P. Capozzi, Roger J. Dodd, Richard S. Jaffe, Artemis Malekpour, Susan Seahorn, and Shannon Tucker, Authors (American Bar Association)
This practice guide is the culmination of fascinating research conducted by David Ball, a nationally renowned jury researcher, strategist, and consultant. Ball spent decades investigating why the state and federal criminal conviction rates are so high, especially considering the significant amount of wrongfully convicted people. Based on his studies interviewing former jurors, Ball found juries rarely follow the law because they do not fully understand it. Further, many jurors begin their jury service already motivated to convict the defendant. For example, during deliberations, juries spend little time discussing sacred but difficult-to-comprehend topics, such as burden of proof and reasonable doubt, and most of their time on their personal gut instincts, which legal side presented its case better, and their own concerns about crime and safety. Therefore, most of what juries focus on is unrelated to whether the state met its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Because of this knowledge, the “Rule-Out” Method provides alternative techniques to defending criminal cases, which aim to reduce juror preconceived biases, errors understanding the law, and emotional concerns. While those goals always may have been present for defense attorneys, this practice guide provides the steps necessary to achieve them, which should result in a reduction in convictions, and a restoration of the intention of justice that existed behind the creation of the jury trial in the US Constitution.
Professional Practice
Lucien E. Dervan, Russel D. Covey, and Thea Johnson, Editors (American Bar Association)
The overwhelming majority of criminal cases are resolved in plea-negotiated dispositions. However, the history of plea bargaining is long and complex, and has not always produced the most just resolution in criminal cases. There have been significant concerns regarding threats and coercion, deeply unfair promises regarding sentencing, access to meaningful counsel and discovery, and having sufficient time for consideration before accepting a plea offer. In 2019, as a result of these concerns, the American Bar Association established a task force on plea bargaining procedures, consisting of members of all areas of the legal profession. In 2023, based on the task force’s research, the ABA adopted new official policies on plea bargaining, which should result in fairer and more just plea-negotiated dispositions of criminal cases. This book offers deeper insight, explanations, and examples of the new policies. The book also offers important insight on implementing these reforms, which is a set of ideals, into a practitioner’s day-to-day environment, including examining each practitioner’s role in the plea-bargaining process and offering the guidance to begin changing our procedures. Historically, plea negotiations were viewed as the most expeditious way to resolve a high-volume caseload. Ultimately, efficiency became the priority, significantly risking unfairness and, worse, violation of defendants’ rights. Now, with the acknowledgment that our criminal justice system is really a system of pleas, rather than a system of trials, the plea-bargaining reforms offered here will allow for a system that values justice over efficiency.
Nonfiction
Jonathan Shapiro, Author (American Bar Association)
Among tens of thousands of books already written about Abraham Lincoln, this one is quite different. It also stands out among the hundreds of thousands of self-help guides that inform readers how to become better versions of themselves. With principles such as setting attainable goals, rather than reaching for the moon, and always having a core set of values (not to be broken), the way Abraham Lincoln lived may actually be a more effective how-to-be-better guide than we might have initially thought. Author Jonathan Shapiro has delivered the most practical, rather than historical, version of this heroic figure’s life, a version to which people who view themselves as much less than heroic can even relate. Shapiro has identified seven basic steps, which include laughter and love, for readers to follow to establish behavioral patterns more like Lincoln. The other steps are improve, navigate, collaborate, object, and now. As the book acknowledges, Lincoln was not perfect, was not always ambitious even, and he did not strive for fame. However, he generally always stuck to the same values in all his thoughts, choices, and actions, and endeavored to live a life of goodness and honesty. He believed strongly in self-improvement, evident in his determination to better himself from times when he was struggling. With easy-to-understand writing, enjoyable and humorous storytelling, brief chapter summaries, and even exercises to practice the seven steps, this may be one of the newest and best self-help books in existence, inspired by one of America’s oldest legends.
Fiction
David Baldacci, Author (Hatchette Book Group; Grand Central Publishing)
David Baldacci, world-renowned lawyer-turned-bestselling-author of many legal thrillers, has delivered one of his absolute finest works with A Calamity of Souls. Drawing on Baldacci’s own experiences growing up, the novel is set in southern Virginia in 1968, just after the Civil Rights Act was passed in nothing short of a tumultuous time. The book begins by depicting the horrific double murder scene of a wealthy, elderly white couple and the violent arrest of a poor Black man, employed by the couple as a handyman, who was found at the crime scene. While the pervasive racism and deep injustices make many parts of the book difficult to read, it is arguably one of the more important fictional stories for lawyers, as we practice in times when racial hatred and injustice remain present. A deeply inspirational storyline is the portrayal of the two lawyers who believe in the accused’s innocence and risk their lives to defend him. However, they couldn’t be more different from each other. Jack Lee, a young white attorney who has never tried a murder case, agrees empathetically to take the case. He is joined by Desiree DuBoise, an experienced Black attorney from Chicago who is no stranger to cases riddled with racial injustices. Although there appears to be little evidence of the defendant’s guilt, the larger community is more than convinced based on the color of his skin, fairness be damned. Readers will be rooting for the attorneys to triumphantly prevail against an incredibly tense and unjust system.