“Justice was the promise. Punishing poverty is the reality.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning author of James Percival Everett will join former public defender and Partners for Justice co-founder Emily Galvin Almanza to discuss her latest release The Price of Mercy: Unfair Trials, a Violent System, and a Public Defender’s Search for Justice in America. The book pulls back the curtain to reveal the dysfunction afflicting our overburdened legal system. From the ‘dirty tricks’ used to inflate police overtime, to the perverse incentives driving prosecutors, Galvin Almanza uncovers how our courts that claim to protect us are doing the exact opposite. More than an exposé; it’s a blueprint for rebuilding our country’s justice system.
“A thoughtful, persuasive call for a truly just system of justice.” —Kirkus Reviews
Author and Moderator:
Emily Galvin Almanza
Emily Galvin Almanza is the co-founder and executive director of Partners for Justice, a nonprofit creating a new collaborative model of public defense designed to empower defenders nationwide. Prior to founding PFJ, Emily fought for clients inside the LA County Public Defender, Santa Clara County Public Defender, and Bronx Defenders, and with the Stanford Three Strikes Project. Galvin Almanza is the author of The Price of Mercy, and her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Teen Vogue, and Time, among others.
Percival Everett
Percival Everett is a Distinguished Professor of English at USC. His most recent books include Dr. No (finalist for the NBCC Award for Fiction and winner of the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award), The Trees (finalist for the Booker Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction), Telephone (finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), So Much Blue, Erasure, and I Am Not Sidney Poitier. He has received the NBCC Ivan Sandrof Life Achievement Award, The Windham Campbell Prize from Yale University, and the Stowe Prize for Literary Activism. American Fiction, the feature film based on his novel Erasure, was released in 2023 and was awarded the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the writer Danzy Senna, and their children.
About the Los Angeles County Public Defender
VISION:
The Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office is the finest client-centered criminal defense firm in the nation, providing a beacon for evolutionary and revolutionary changes in the justice system.
MISSION:
By 2025, measurably reduce incarceration and the collateral consequences of contact with the criminal justice system in Los Angeles County.
VALUES:
Advocacy: We are zealous Defenders, working relentlessly to meet the needs of our clients.
Compassion: We listen to our clients, respect their life experience, and tell their story.
Dedication: We are passionate about indigent defense.
Collaboration: We work with County and community stakeholders to achieve our clients’ goals.
