Quest for Justice: Defending the Damned
Richard Jaffe’s second edition of Quest for Justice: Defending the Damned affirms the critical role of criminal defense life and death, liberty and lockup battles within the justice system. This captivating book of real-life cases often reads like fiction, taking readers into the courtroom and the field alongside Jaffe, a renowned Alabama defense attorney with over 40 years of experience.
Having represented hundreds of murder cases, including over 70 death penalty trials and high-profile clients like Olympic bomber Eric Robert Rudolph, Jaffe has also helped exonerate four of Alabama’s nine death row exonerees. Through alarming yet inspiring stories, Jaffe reveals the systemic challenges in achieving justice while showcasing his determined pursuit of hope and triumph.
Quest for Justice offers a powerful, accessible glimpse into the realities of defending the condemned in America’s criminal justice system.
I must admit that after almost 24 years as civil lawyer, I never thought that reading a book would change the course of my legal practice and lead to becoming a Public Defender. Richard Chaffe’s Quest for Justice: Defending the Damned is so inspirational, showing that Chaffe is deeply, passionately involved in each of his cases, with a fervent desire to help those who might otherwise have never seen the light of the day, exonerating them from death row, and giving a second chance to those for whom everyone else had lost hope. Jaffe’s stories are real cases that in some instances no one else wanted to take them, but this extraordinary top death penalty defense lawyer never gave up in defending the constitutional rights of those damned by the crimes being accused of. This convinced me that as lawyers we can still make a difference, not only in one person’s life, but an entire generation.
After reading Jaffe’s book, I was inspired not just to became a criminal lawyer, but a Public Defender, representing those in society’s most disadvantaged groups: the poor, the uneducated, and those struggling with mental illness.
It does not matter whether you are a young or well-seasoned lawyer. It is never too late to begin making a difference in the lives of those who most need your legal services while still facing a flawed criminal justice legal system, when prosecutors, some jury members, and the public at large condemn so many as “guilty” even before stepping into court. This is an exceptional -must read- book!!!