A forth­com­ing book, Fighting for Their Lives: Inside the Experience of Capital Defense Attorneys by Susannah Sheffer, explores the impact of the death penal­ty on defense attor­neys with clients on death row. Through inter­views with cap­i­tal defend­ers, the author exam­ines how attor­neys try to cope with the stress of rep­re­sent­ing clients fac­ing exe­cu­tion. Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, said, ​“This is an impor­tant book. The death penal­ty’s impact is so much broad­er than we real­ize, and these attor­neys are affect­ed in ways that even I had not imag­ined. I am grate­ful to Susannah Sheffer for bring­ing these sto­ries to light.” Richard Burr, a promi­nent cap­i­tal defense attor­ney, called the book ​“a beau­ti­ful, heart­break­ing, and above all uplift­ing sto­ry that makes an essen­tial con­tri­bu­tion to lit­er­a­ture on the death penal­ty.” The book is avail­able through Amazon and other outlets.

(S. Shaffer, ​“Fighting for Their Lives: Inside the Experience of Capital Defense Attorneys,” Vanderbilt University Press (March 2013); DPIC post­ed Feb. 5, 2013). See Books and Representation.

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