My Public Defender Bookshelf
When Innocence Is Not Enough by Thomas L. Dybdahl - about false convictions.
Usual Cruelty: The Complicity of Lawyers in the Criminal Justice System - uncomfortable look at how comfortable lawyers are in the current system
DUPED - Why Innocent People Confess -- And Why We Believe Their Confessions: have used this book as a source in cases before
Secrets of the Killing State - about the death penalty and all the things nobody in power wants you to know about how horrifying and mind-bogglingly plagued by incompetence and suffering it is
Courtroom 302 - Acquired in college, so this one's old, but it's probably one of the bigger books that sought to demonstrate to the public how courtrooms are not a search for justice but a processing line in a factory
Just Pursuit - black woman is a federal prosecutor, cannot reconcile her participation in the system with the pursuit of justice
Cross Examination of Witnesses - old ass book, hilarious, whole chapter on women and most of it is about how women can cry on command so you better be CAREFUL
**Trial Techniques and Trials (Manet) - best. My only keepsies from law school.
*The Rage of Innocence - by a DC Public Defender Service attorney, extremely good interweaving of narrative and statistics.
The War on Kids - about us locking up SO many children
The Evolution of the Juvenile Court - fairly dry and historical book about why we are where we are w/r/t the juvenile court
*Burning Down the House: The End of Juvenile Prison: currently missing from shelf, true true true, great book if you want to know all kinds of things to shut down assholes who think they know what they're talking about with juvenile justice
*A Kind and Just Parent - ok ok the book itself might not be that much of a banger but it's personally signed to me by the author when I lost my first signed copy in a flood. By former domestic terrorist William Ayers who became an educator and juvenile activist. And the book is pretty fuckin good
How to Talk So Teens Will Listen (& Listen So Teens Will Talk) - great book, I should listen to it more
Age of Opportunity - about the science of adolescence, have referred to it in court many times
The Connected Child - part of my journey into social worker books
How to Raise Kids Who Aren't Assholes - hilarious
A Child's Journey Through Placement - a good in-depth look at kids placed in the foster system and what they go through, meant to help social workers. I think it's a little dated but it helped me see some different perspectives.
The Foster Parenting Manual - again, part of my journey into social worker/foster care related books
Multisystemic Therapy for Children and Adolescents - highly technical, probably not of benefit to most people. MST is a therapeutic method that's gaining popularity because it's got a large dose of common sense problem solving in it and I like it.
Pop Lawyer (Like Pop Science) Books
Poverty by America - Okay tbh this and the two before it were a little obvious to me but they seem to have affected a lot of people, so I guess they get a bold.
*The Color of Law - Bonus points for the most banger cover on any book on the shelf. It just looks good. But this is a wonderful historical look at how white people have used law to make housing inaccessible to black people.
*Evicted - Not so much history, more about how the brutal cycle of probation and eviction keep people poor.
So You Want to Talk About Race
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: In Her Own Words
*Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis (yes)
Managing to Save the World - it's by the AskAManager blog author, and honestly I found the blog more digestible and interesting.
*The First 90 Days - Genuinely great book about how to Start as a manager in a new job. I think this really helped me get going when I had no idea what I was doing.
Getting to Yes - negotiation stuff
Beyond Reason - negotiation stuff
***Nonviolent Communication - life-changing and communication-changing book that should be read by everyone
Addiction & Psychology & Trauma
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts - ok in the end I think I don't really like Gabor Mate but this book is haunting.
Chasing the Scream - if you want to know why the War on Drugs ended up this way, and you're interested in also why Reagan did what he did, learn who you should REALLY hate! Surprise, it's some guy who ruined everything for all of us right after Prohibition, like in the 1930s!
The Gift of Fear - interesting exploration of how to trust your instincts and stay alive.
*Trauma & Recovery - about trauma. Like, what's happening in trauma. What's the science and the history.
**The Body Keeps the Score (currently missing) - obvious rec is obvious
**No Bad Parts - the basic book on Internal Family Systems therapy, which I think kicks ass
Should I Stay or Should I Go by Lundy Bancroft - spoiler alert, if you're asking yourself this you should go
The Verbally Abusive Relationship
Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents
Unmasking Autism - a soft book which left me with both more and less idea of what autism is like
Scattered Minds by Gabor Mate again, I don't like this one
Delivered from Distraction - dated book on ADHD
ADHD 2.0 - extremely interesting book on ADHD by the same authors as Delivered from Distraction
The Deepest Well - this is the book that details the studies behind the ACE scores, or Adverse Childhood Experience scores.
It Doesn't Start with You - creeped me out, implied that epigenetics can contain too much memory and I don't like it
**Why Does He Do That - obvious rec
**How He Gets Into Her Head - this book is a little harder to get a hold of and a little more triggering than Why Does He Do That. This is about purposeful offenders and it has some devastating insights that have proven extremely useful in my practice.
***Story by Robert McKee - how to build a story. Like, architecturally. How to construct it. What it is made out of. There are no writing books like this and this one is the only one that gets it right.
***Creating Unforgettable Characters by Linda Seger - idk I just love it, I've read it like 5 times
***Bird by Bird by Ann Lamott - writing. feelings. god.
***The Art of Description by Mark Doty - this, combined with characters and story above, are the only books you ever need on writing.
The Secret History of Kindness: Learning from How Dogs Learn - kind of overly intellectual and hard to parse at times, but great great insights
The Many Lives of Mama Love - strong story about drug addiction, probation, and overcoming what is an impossible set of obstacles for many people
Aaron Burr's treason trial transcript - this was a FRAME JOB. thomas jefferson had NO EVIDENCE aaron burr was INNOCENT
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