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

In these times of reckoningat lastwith Americas 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 Courts refusal to let an innocent man, cleared by DNA, out of prison. The United States needs a Defender General.

Andrea D. Lyonis 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 includeThe Feminine Sixth: Women in Criminal Defense2018,The Death Penalty: Whats Keeping it Alive, 2015,andAngel of Death Row: My Life as a Death Penalty Defense Lawyer, 2010. To find out more, visit her website atwww.andrealyon.com

Lyons, a criminal defense attorney and a death penalty expert, offers an interesting premise to fix the legal system in the USa 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 crimilc¡