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Just Pursuit
Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutor's Fight for Fairness | Laura Coates
4 posts | 6 read | 3 to read
A firsthand, eye-opening story of a prosecutor that exposes the devastating criminal punishment system. Laura Coates bleeds for justice on the page. Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Awardwinning author of Stamped from the Beginning and How to Be an Antiracist When Laura Coates joined the Department of Justice as a prosecutor, she wanted to advocate for the most vulnerable among us. But she quickly realized that even with the best intentions, the pursuit of justice creates injustice. Through Coatess experiences, we see that no matter how fair you try to fight, being Black, a woman, and a mother are identities often at odds in the justice system. She and her colleagues face seemingly impossible situations as they teeter between what is right and what is just. On the front lines of our legal system, Coates saw how Black communities are policed differently; Black cases are prosecuted differently; Black defendants are judged differently. How the court system seems to be the one place where minorities are overrepresented, an unrelenting parade of Black and Brown defendants in numbers that belie their percentage in the population and overfill American prisons. She also witnessed how others in the system either abused power or were abused by itfor example, when an undocumented witness was arrested by ICE, when a white colleague taught Coates how to unfairly interrogate a young Black defendant, or when a judge victim-blamed a young sexual assault survivor based on her courtroom attire. Through these revelatory and captivating scenes from the courtroom, Laura Coates explores the tension between the idealism of the law and the reality of working within the parameters of our flawed legal system, exposing the chasm between what is right and what is lawful.
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MallenNC
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This was one of my August reads that I wanted to review. The author is a CNN legal expert but I‘ve never seen her on TV. I read this b/c I saw it on Instagram. Each chapter is a case or situation she dealt with as a federal prosecutor, and the perspective she brought to the job as a Black woman. Our legal system is not equal, which this book shows. I wish there were followup on some of these cases, which were often sad or infuriating.

MallenNC This would be a good book for #SheSaid readers @Riveted_Reader_Melissa 2y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa It sounds great for that! 2y
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Hana321
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This is an interesting inside look at how the justice system works, from someone who acted as the arm of “justice” for the Department of Justice. I guess the most important takeaway here is that justice is neither blind in all cases, nor is justice as fair in all cases as it may seem. This is a valuable insight, and each case is quite interesting, and at times heart breaking.

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maryemoo
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Absolutely gripping book. I gasped, I teared up. It's hard not to put yourself in some of the situations Laura describes, to imagine what you would do if it was you/your child/your friend etc. Laura writes in an absolutely captivating manner and it's hard to put this book down.

Don't let the fact that the book details her time as a prosecutor scare you away; she explains procedures and roles in a very easy-to-understand way.