Among the many street-level bureaucrats within the U.S. criminal legal system, court-appointed defense attorneys are among the few who are not often listed as responsible for its punitiveness or inequality. Theirs is the embodiment of a social justice career: fighting for the freedom of America’s helpless against the might of the carceral state. Matthew Clair’s brilliant book offers two correctives to this characterization: first, that the marginalized are far from helpless in the face of possible incarceration, and second, that a defendant being inadequately deferential to their attorney can elicit coercion and punishment from their advocate and the court.

Privilege and Punishment examines the relationships between criminal defendants and their attorneys in Boston-area courts, showing that they run two different courses. They can be characterized by delegation, where the defendant defers to the expert advice of their lawyer and the two work in concert toward a set of shared goals. It can also be characterized by withdrawal, where the defendant either attempts to work around their lawyer or disengages from their legal proceedings. Many of the disadvantaged defendants whom Clair interviewed distrusted and had contentious relationships with their lawyers, leading them to cultivate their