Book Review: Doing Justice by Preet Bharara (as an audiobook)

Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law
by Preet Bharara (Compact Disc 347.73 Bha)

Preet Bharara was US Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 until 2017 when President Trump fired him for his refusal to interfere with the Mueller investigation.

I first encountered Bharara in a live interview with Pulitzer Prize-winning feature writer Eli Sanders at a Seattle city venue complete with an interactive audience in March, 2019 (https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/dan-savage/blabbermouth/e/59733466) where I found him intelligent, well-spoken, and humorous. When asked questions on current events or cases, he did not give a knee-jerk reaction but carefully outlined all the possible legal reasoning behind an attorney’s and court’s activities and explained the consequences for each action.

Doing Justice is Bharara’s first book, and I check it out as a book on CD. He reads the book and it feels as if he’s having a conversation with a friend, he wasn’t preachy or full of legal Latin terms as if trying to impress you.

This is not a dry book on legal topics by a law professor droning on and on. He covers compelling stories – some are famous cases we’ve heard about – providing background and discussing what attorneys must consider when bringing a case to trial (or not), including the ethics involved.

The book is arranged like a criminal case: Part I Inquiry (the investigation), Part II Accusation (do they charge or not?), Part III Judgment (court proceedings), and Part IV Punishment (what happens when a defendant is found guilty). And discusses each in the realm of actual cases. In Part I the first case he talks about is the Lyle and Erik Menendez case (turns out he has a personal connection there) when he realized anyone could be guilty of anything.

From the Preface: “Smart laws do not assure justice any more than a good recipe guarantees a delicious meal. The law is merely an instrument, and without the involvement of human hands it is as lifeless and uninspiring as a violin kept in its case. The law cannot compel us to love each other or respect each other. It cannot cancel hate or conquer evil; teach grace or extinguish apathy. Every day, the law’s best aims are carried out, for good or ill, by human beings. Justice is served, or thwarted, by human beings. Mercy is bestowed, or refused, by human beings.”

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was disappointed when it ended. I’m now following his weekly podcast podcast (https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/cafe/stay-tuned-with-preet) as an attempt to continue this book.

[ publisher’s official Doing Justice web page ] | [ Preet Bharara page on Wikipedia ]

Recommended by Charlotte M.

Bennett Martin Public Library – Public Service

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