i welcome any opportunity to talk about justice with mark bookman. mark is a good friend for a long time. he's done great work, as a public defender and director of the atlantic center. we will talk about that for a minute. claire, i want to thank you too. i spent many wonderful evenings in the bookstore when i was in cambridge and appreciate this opportunity to talk to mark. as claire just said, 12 essays that mark has written about different aspects of the death penalty, about racism, about the lawyers assigned sometimes to defend people, about the judges who judge these cases other aspects of the book. before we talk about that, mark, i thought maybe i would ask you about your time as a public defender there in philadelphia and a lot of people may not realize how much the death penalty, how often it was [inaudible] at one time, how often it was imposed. the d.a., later the chief justice was there. maybe talk about that for a minute? >> sure, you know, philadelphia's been a hotbed of death penalty activity for decades really, and it started before r

i welcome any opportunity to talk about justice with mark bookman. rk is a good friend for a long time. he's done great work, as a public defender and director of the atlantic center. we will talk about that for a minute. claire, i want to thank you too. i spent many wonderful evenings in the bookstore when i was in cambridge and appreciate this opportunity to talk to mark. as claire just said, 12 essays that mark has written about different aspects of the death penalty, about racism, about the lawyers assigned sometimes to defend people, about the judges who judge these cases other aspects of the book. before we talk about that, mark, i thought maybe i would ask you about your time as a public defender there in philadelphia and a lot of people may not realize how much the death penalty, how often it was [inaudible] at one time, how often it was imposed. the d.a., later the chief justice was there. maybe talk about that for a minute? >> sure, you know, philadelphia's been a hotbed of death penalty activity for decades really, and it started before ron

. >> mark bookman heads up the atlantic center for capital representation, a nonprofit that provides services for those facing prosecution. earlier in his career, he spent many years in the homicide unit of the defender association of philadelphia. although this is his first book, you may be familiar with his work that's been published in the atlantic, mother jones, vice, and slate among others. tonight he will be talking with steven bright, a lecturer, who is known for his work at the southern center for human rights in atlanta. he's tried capital cases before juries and four