A former public defender takes us behind the closed doors of America's criminal courts, revealing how the institutions that claim to protect us are doing the exact opposite—and offering a blueprint for finally fixing it. “A searing, compassionate, and utterly necessary book that pulls back the curtain with the clarity of a lawyer and the heart of someone who’s seen the criminal legal system’s devastating consequences up close.”—Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow As Americans, we are told a rose-tinted story about our criminal courts—that these are the hallowed halls of justice, that the purpose of our legal process is to find the truth, and that those who enforce the law are both equitable and heroic. But what if the reality is purposefully obscured to hide something rotten at the system’s core? In The Price of Mercy , attorney and former public defender Emily Galvin Almanza weaves hard data and unforgettable stories, dark humor and compelling evidence to tell us the truth about what’s really going on behind the closed doors of America’s criminal courts. She shows us how jails actually increase future crime, the dirty tricks police use to make millions in overtime pay, how a man could spend decades in prison because scientists mistook dog hair for his own, the perverse incentives that push prosecutors to seek convictions even when they themselves don’t want to, and how judges may decide cases differently after lunch. We’ll learn what’s working, too: how public defenders can improve public health and even economic mobility, and how planting more trees can reduce a neighborhood’s murder rates. But a lone defender winning a case won’t change the system. Galvin Almanza argues that we need an engaged public to confront the stark reality of our crime-generating, poverty-entrenching, health-destroying legal apparatus and rebuild it into something that can save our collective present and prevent our future from being torn apart. Provocative and eye-opening, The Price of Mercy lifts the curtain on the way our laws really operate and presents a path forward for true transformation of the American criminal court system. Justice, and the law itself, is not some static thing. It is something enacted together, decision by decision, in acts of inhumanity or mercy. “In a political moment in which so much of the narrative around our criminal legal system is being distorted, misrepresented, and weaponized, The Price of Mercy steps in to provide a necessary corrective. It is grounded in research, based in evidence, and centers the experiences of real people entangled in the system. I learned so much from these pages and I’m so glad this book exists.” —Clint Smith, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How the Word Is Passed “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. This book, required reading for defense lawyers and prosecutors, is an awesome labor of love for our country and all of the people who live here.” —Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-8), Ranking Member, U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, author of #1 New York Times bestseller Unthinkable “ The Price of Mercy is a searing, compassionate, and utterly necessary book. Emily Galvin Almanza pulls back the curtain on America’s criminal legal system with the clarity of a lawyer and the heart of someone who’s seen the system’s devastating consequences up close.” —Michelle Alexander, New York Times bestselling author of The New Jim Crow “ The Price of Mercy is a clear-eyed examination of the failures of the system, and a hopeful blueprint of how we can create something better. Though it focuses on criminal justice, it is in many ways a commentary on something much broader–American politics, public service, and the institutions that define our lives.” —Josie Duffy Rice, author, journalist, podcast host “ 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.” —Laurence H. Tribe, author of Uncertain Justice and Carl M. Loeb University Professor of Constitutional Law Emeritus, Harvard Law School “Anyone who cares about justice should read this urgently needed book.” —Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money “A thoughtful, persuasive call for a truly just system of justice.” — Kirkus Reviews “This is a necessary work, a welcome addition to all general collections, and an excellent choice for book clubs.” — Library Journal , starred review 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 L.A. County Pub