“THE PRICE OF MERCY is an astonishing and moving achievement. Flying way below the dark clouds of political rhetoric about crime-and-punishment and law-and-order in America, Emily Galvin Almanza brings us instead into the police precinct interrogation room, the holding cell in the courthouse, the jury voir dire selection process, the judge’s chambers and the packed courtroom with dozens of cases, the sequestered jury deliberation room, the filthy and forlorn prison cell and the sorrows of family visitation day.
Unflinching, refreshingly pragmatic and bracingly humane, Emily Galvin Almanza commits us to a street-level systemic understanding of what’s actually working and what’s failing in American criminal justice. Her account of our penal condition, infused with personal stories, surprising statistics and tangible reform ideas, can be a serious game-changer for America—if we’re listening.”
— Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-8), Ranking Member, U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, Author of #1 New York Times Bestseller Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth and the Trials of American Democracy
“THE PRICE OF MERCY is, quite simply, the gutsiest book ever written about the gritty reality of something nobody who reads this astonishing inside-the-walls account can continue to call the criminal justice system. Its insights are brilliant, its proposals pragmatic, and its potential impact on crime and punishment profound.”
— Laurence H. Tribe, Carl M. Loeb University Professor Emeritus, Harvard University
“As a public defender, what Galvin-Almanza has seen is chilling—and in THE PRICE OF MERCY, she takes readers inside the system with crystalline insight, heart, and writerly skill. She shows that crime isn't what you see on TV, judges aren't umpires, and many in America have only as much freedom as they can buy. Anyone who cares about justice should read this urgently-needed book.”
— Jane Mayer, New Yorker Magazine Staff Writer and author of Dark Money
