When Laura Coates transferred from the Civil Rights division to the U.S. Attorney's office, she assumed it would be similar work within the Department of Justice; however, her new role as a criminal prosecutor revealed the many ways justice is not always served, especially for Black and brown defendants. Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutor's Fight for Fairness chronicles some of the notable cases Coates observed, times she felt torn between her duty as a prosecutor and her experiences as a Black woman. She writes, "I had been a trusted champion of people who looked like me. But now, I was often distrusted as an agent of a system that disproportionately filled prisons with people who looked like me." Ultimately, the injustices she saw and those she was obligated to participate in led her to leave the Department of Justice and pursue justice through teaching, private practice and writing.
Whether recounting the story of a mother's desperate testimony that accidentally hurts her daughter's case, or of a young man fighting to prove he has been misidentified as the suspect in a crime, Coates treats her subjects with respect and care, relaying critical details without resorting to emotional exploitation. Coates has an acute eye for gestures and dialogue, recalling each scene with uncanny precision. But Coates's narrative never rings untrue, providing a compelling reminder of the persistence of injustice in the U.S. criminal justice system. --Sara Beth West, freelance reviewer and librarian