Usual Cruelty: The Complicity of Lawyers in the Criminal Injustice System

A ＂searing, searching, and eloquent＂ (Martha Minow, Harvard Law School) investigation into the role of the legal profession in perpetuating mass incarceration--now in an accessible paperback format from the award-winning civil rights lawyer

＂Usual Cruelty cuts to the core of what is critical to understand about our legal system, and about ourselves.＂
--Anthony D. Romero, executive director, ACLU

Usual Cruelty is a radical reconsideration of the American ＂injustice system＂ by someone who is actively--and successfully--challenging it. Hailed as a ＂fiery indictment＂ (Publishers Weekly) as well as a ＂compelling and damning argument＂ (Slate), Usual Cruelty offers a paradigm-shifting look at our legal system and the central role lawyers play in the ＂punishment bureaucracy.＂ ＂Passionately argued＂ (The New Yorker), the book explores the viciousness of our courts, prisons, and jails, and the ways in which the legal profession has allowed itself to become desensitized to the pain these institutions inflict on our most vulnerable populations. Now in an accessible paperback format, Usual Cruelty will cement Karakatsanis’s reputation as one of the most inspiring civil rights leaders of our time.

A former public defender, Alec Karakatsanis is the founder of the Civil Rights Corps, an organization designed to advocate for racial justice and bring systemic civil rights cases on behalf of impoverished people. He was named the 2016 Trial Lawyer of the Year by Public Justice and was awarded the Stephen B. Bright Award for contributions to indigent defense in the South by Gideon’s Promise. He lives in Washington, DC.