Sara Mayeux is a law professor at Vanderbilt University and the author of the book Free Justice, A History of the Public Defender in 20th Century America. 

 

Sara discusses the progressive era, the 1950s and the development of public defense of modern America, and the supreme court's role throughout it all. 

 

The development of public defense has largely been dictated by the growth of the nation through urbanization, industrialization, and economic inequality. Sara and Hunter talk through how culture impacted the development of law as it stands today. This episode lays a foundational understanding of how our public defense came to be what it is today. A must-listen!

 

Key Topics and Takeaways:

• The 3 topics of Sara’s book: Free Justice [3:02]
• How quickly political concepts can switch their meaning and understanding based on the cultural context that people are raised in. [4:04]
• Background and experience of Sara Mayeux [6:10]
• The era of mass incarceration [7:03]
• What the progressive era looked like, and how this culture impacted the criminal courts and criminal system. [12:35]
• Defense law perspective versus the state [22:51]
• The disparity between east coast and west coast public defenders in the 1950s. [31:20]
• The impact of the cold war on public defense. [37:40]
• The OJ Trial and people getting off due to technicalities in the legal system. [49:58]
• The American Bar Association’s approach [52:00]

 

Guest:

Sara Mayuex, Professor of Law and History, Vanderbilt University

 

 

Memorable Quotes:

 

“There's this broader cultural sense in which we think of American law as adversarial. Meaning that, especially in a criminal case, the defendant is up against the state and that's his adversary or enemy. And so of course, the defense lawyer and the prosecutor are going to see themselves as doing battle. And they're not going to see themselves as having any kind of shared goal or shared mission.” - Sara Mayeux

 

“The dominant standard understanding of what happens with respect to public policy debates during the Cold War is that anything that looks even remotely too much like communism or socialism is basically written out of the realm of possibility for American policymakers.” - Sara Mayeux

 

 

Get Sara Mayeux’s Book:

Free Justice: A History of the Public Defender in 20th Century America

https://uncpress.org/book/9781469661650/free-justice/

https://law.vanderbilt.edu/bio/sara-mayeux

 

 

Contact Hunter Parnell:

[email protected]

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