Kevin Davis

Chicago's a good place to follow crime and punishment. My shelf includes not only Chicago mystery authors but also nonfiction courthouse stories from Steve Bogira and John Conroy. So I'm surprised I missed Kevin Davis' 2007 book on public defenders till we both wound up working at the same place. Davis displays a novelist's pacing in following an accused cop killer's case when Illinois' death penalty was still in force. Cook County provides a colorful cast in the elite squad known as the public defender's Murder Task Force. In many of their cases a life sentence was a victory. Davis unravels the reasons they kept plugging away.… (más)

"My brain made me do it." Sounds like a ridiculous defense but, with this book, Kevin Davis shows us the science making that phrase a real possibility.

While I'm tempted to rehash some of the excellent material within, because it's a really fun topic to discuss, I'll instead stick to my thoughts on the book in general. First, the material is impeccably researched. The author builds from a solid base of one particular case, with a man who, after murdering his wife, was found to have an enormous cyst on his brain. From there, we explore what it means to be sane, and is the question of sanity different from being criminally responsible?

In reading this book, it's difficult not to question the issue of free will. How much of our behavior is governed by the inner workings of our brains? We start to wonder where the line sits between choice and biologically-governed behavior.

Kevin Davis's writing is thoroughly engaging. This isn't a dry, textbook kind of read. Yet, it's also not light pop science. The content is compelling and thought-provoking. Davis doesn't claim to have all the answers, and he doesn't lead us in any specific direction. He gives us room to ponder the questions and reach our own conclusions about a topic that is likely to become more controversial over the years.

*I was provided with an advance copy by the publisher, via Amazon Vine, in exchange for my honest review.*… (más)

5343. Defending the Damned Inside Chicago's Cook County Public Defender's Office, by Kevin Davis (read 14 Jan 2016) This 2007 book tells of the work of the public defender's office in Chicago. Much of the book tells of the defense afforded to Aloysius Oliver, who is accused of killing a policeman. One stands in admiration of the hard work the public defender goes through to see that the accused gets a fair trial. The work of the defenders is especially draining since the State was seeking to imitate killers by killing the accused. The book details the effort of the State to do unto the accused what they say the accused did--kill. I found the book riveting at times and also appalling. I conclude that a public defender who works in a state which does not seek to kill, such as Iowa, should be grateful, and could not help but agree with Pope Francis that the death penalty should be abolished.… (más)