after a little while she would ask me, bryan stevenson, do you still feel me hugging you? if i said yes, she would let me go. you can't understand most of the important things from a distance. you have to get close, she told me all the time. when spending a few weeks while still a student working for a sudden prisoner's defense committee brian met the director of the spd see steve wright. brian, steve wright said, capital punishment means men without the capital get the punishment. and finally i would like to read to you the final paragraph of the introduction to this extraordinary book. finally i have come to believe that the true measure of our commitment to justice, the character of our society, our commitment to the rule of law, fairness and equality cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the powerful, the privilege and the respected among us. the true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the incarcerated and the condemned. we are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated. an absence of compassion can core of the dec

bryan stevenson -- broken by injustice, condemnation, but hopeful. it is an honor to welcome to the new york public library sister and bryanean stevenson. [laughter] --[applause] [applause] >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. [applause] >> well, i guess it's up to us, bryan? we are both southerners and storytellers, so that ought to be good. y'all can listen if you want to, and then maybe you can get in on it, too? i just want to say at the outset, "dead man walking" has been out there over 20 years and we are still working it. the last word is just a getting to the people, telling the story, welcoming the people of -- waking the people up. is just coming out and i'm in the role of dust, jesus, listen to him. i will be telling my stories -- don't worry. you will not be able to escape that. but to bryan's story and what he good.nding for is so how did you happen to do this book? was it something you automatically wanted to do? >> i'll be honest. i was resisting writing a book for a long time. as you know, our lives are full spending time with a l

it is an honor to welcome to the new york public library sister helen prejean and bryan stevenson. applause] >> thank you. >> thank you. >> well, i guess it's up to us, bryan? we are both southerners and storytellers, so that ought to be good. y'all can listen if you want to, and then maybe you can get in on it, too? i just want to say at the outset, "dead man walking" has been out there over 20 years and we are still working it. the last word is just a getting to the people, telling the story, waking the people up. bryan's book is just coming out and i'm in the role of john the baptist, jesus, listen to him. i will be telling my stories -- don't worry. you will not be able to escape that. but to bryan's story and what he is standing for is so good. how did you happen to do this book? was it something you automatically wanted to do? >> i'll be honest. i was resisting writing a book for a long time. as you know, our lives are full spending time with a lot of people who are in great need, people who are condemned, incarcerated, and we cannot meet all the needs of the people who need h

. >> host: bryan stevenson, just mercies the name of the book the story of justice and redemption. we won't tell the ending to the narrative about walter macmillan. if you want to see it you can pick up the book for yourself. thank you for being on booktv. >> guest: you are very welcome. james cobb jr. talks about "flood of lies"

. >> bryan stevenson. "just mercy: a story of justice and redemption" is the name of the book. we won't tell the ending. the narrative about walter

name isup and said my bryan stevenson, the lawyer representing the client today. the judge said you are the lawyer? he started laughing. the prosecutor started laughing. i made myself laugh, too, because i did not want to disadvantage my client. the client came in as a young white kids. we did the hearing but after i was thinking how exhausting it is. these are judges, the people who supposed to be fair and act on the presumptions of bias and it is exhausting to constantly deal with that. courtrooms are not friendly perry says for a lot of defense attorneys. all of the rage gets directed at you. for the client even more hostile. the criminal justice system that treats you better if you are rich and guilty than poor and innocent. you feel the inequality. big time. conversationt about the death penalty and american justice system will air tonight starting at 8:00 eastern on c-span. >> here is a look at some of the programs you will find christmas day on the c-span networks. holiday festivities start at 10:00 eastern on c-span with the lighting of the national christ

isaid i am sorry, my name bryan stevenson, i'm actually the lawyer. the judge said, you are the lawyer? he started laughing and the prosecutor started laughing. i made myself start laughing, too. i did not want to disadvantage my client. my client came in, it was a young white kid. [laughter] we did the hearing but afterwards i was thinking how exhausting it is. these are judges, people who are supposed to be fair and not act on presumptions and biases. it is exhausting to deal with that. for a lot of defense attorneys, courtrooms are not friendly places and they are not comfortable places. all of the rage gets directed at you. for our clients it is even more hostile. we have a criminal justice system that treats you better if you are rich and guilty than if you are poor and innocent. if you stand with poor people you feel the inequality. >> big time. >> our conversation on the death penalty and the u.s. criminal justice system errors at 8:00 eastern on c-span. president obama announced last week a shift in u.s.-cuba relations moving towards normaliza

i'm sorry, your honor, my name is bryan stevenson, i'm actually the lawyer representing the client today. the judge says, you're the lawyer? i said, yes, sir. he started laughing. and prosecutor started laughing and made myself laugh because i didn't want to disadvantage my client before he came in. my client who was a young white kid who was represents at hearing. >> great reversal. >> we did hearing, afterward i was thinking how exhausting it is to deal, these are judges, the people who are supposed to be fair. the people who are not supposed to act on presumptions and bias. it is exhausting for a lot of defense attorneys, courtrooms are not friendly places. they're not convenient places. they're not comfortable places. all of that rage gets directed at you. of course for our clients it is even more hostile. we have a criminal justice system that treats you better if you're rich and guilty and rather than poor and innocent. when you stand with poor people you feel inequality. >> big time. big time. >> just some of an event held earlier this fall on the death penalty and the american cr

wait until your defense lawyer gets here come and i stood up, i am sorry your honor, i name is bryan stevensonthe lawyer representing the client. the judge said, you are the lawyer? he and the prosecutor started laughing. , and myyself laugh, too client came in as a young white kid who i was representing -- [laughter] >> a great reversal. >> and we did the hearing, but afterward i was thinking how exhausting it is to have to deal -- these are judges, the people who are opposed -- who are and it iso be fair, exhausting to be constantly dealing with it, so for a lot of defense attorneys, courtrooms are not from the places, they are not convenient, not comfortable places because all that rage gets directed at you in the course. for a client, it is even more hostile. if you are rich and guilty, and we stand with people, you feel that inequality, and it weighs on you, big time. >> that conversation about the death penalty and the american justice system will air tonight startitn at 8:00 eastern on c-span. 8:00, economic writers. man.ry 9:30, steve forbes and elizabeth ames on "money." 10:25, michae

beeknd.v speaks with brian stevenson about his recent book "just mercy: a story of son stice and redemption" at pmi and e-book fair. >> we want to meet and talk with author bryan stephenson 11. i want to learn about you. what is the equal justice initiative? >> is a private nonprofit human rights organization, mostly to incarcerated people and we have been around 25 years, people on death row represent children prosecuted for confinement and trying to change the way we talk about race and poverty. we have a pretty broad agenda focusing on criminal-son stice reform and particularly -- >> how many p inple on death row in almmedama? >> alabama has 200 on death row. the largest death row per-capita in the country. we also have the highest death sentencing rate in the country. alabama is unique in that is the only state with the provision that allows our elected trial son dges to override jury verdict inf life which exceeds the number of death sentences. >> we invite you to talk mmedout the book. the first book, "just mercy: a story of son stice and redemption". tell us about that. >> focuses on walter mcmillan, and ie socent africae afamerican man in monroe ville,

. >> bryan stevenson. "just mercy: a story of justice and redemption" is the name of the book. we won't tell the ending. the narrative about walter

. >> host: bryan stevenson, just mercies the name of the book the story of justice and redemption. we won't tell the ending to the narrative about walter macmillan. if you want to see it you can pick up the book for yourself. thank you for being on booktv. >> guest: you are very welcome. james cobb jr. talks about "flood of lies." [inaudible conversations] >> do you want to set? >> good morning. my name is sharon and i'm a volunteer for the book festival. on behalf of the state library of louisiana and louisiana center of the book. i welcome you to book festival the 11th annual book festival. there will be a book signing with jim cobb afterwards in the bonds -- barnes & noble tent. so if you want to carry on after that he will be happy to sign your books. we are happy to have with us this morning james cobb jr. who has written "flood of lies" the saint regis nursing home tragedy. he was a managing partner in a firm. cobb served as an adjunct professor at tulane university while at the law school. and since the 80s has taught at harvard university since 2008. he lives and practices