Sara Mayeux on the History of the Public Defender

In this episode, Sara Mayeux, Associate Professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law School, discusses her book "Free Justice: A History of the Public Defender in Twentieth-Century America," which is published by the University of North Carolina Press. Mayeux begins by describing the origins of the modern concept of the public defender in the Gilded Era. She explains how and why the idea was rejected, and how it was revived decades later. She also reflects on what the history of indigent criminal defense can tell us about the law as an institution and an ideology. Mayeux is on Twitter at @saramayeux.This episode was hosted by Brian L. Frye, Spears-Gilbert Professor of Law at the University of Kentucky College of Law. Frye is on Twitter at @brianlfrye. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.