This Is Now with Angie Coiro: Dr. Elizabeth Vartkessian

Please note that the date of this event was previously listed as January 30 but will now be held on February 11.

Join us at Kepler’s to hear Dr. Elizabeth Vartkessian discuss The Deserving: What the Lives of the Condemned Reveal about American Justice. Dr. Vartkessian’s clients are guilty of the most heinous crimes. But as she tells it, everyone has someone who loves them. Even people who have committed M**der.

As a mitigator hired by criminal defense lawyers in the hope of reducing the severity of their clients’ punishments, Dr. Vartkessian has spent hundreds of hours per case talking to mothers, siblings, teachers, and neighbors of a defendant, situating their crimes into context. As a detective of the accused person’s life, she learns details about familial behaviors and relationship patterns, community settings—and what she finds, every single time, is that when personal or generational trauma enters the body, it finds its way out eventually.

In this fascinating book packed with the moving, real-life stories of the clients she has worked with over the past twenty years, The Deserving describes the vital role a mitigator plays in developing an understanding of how her clients arrived at the point in their life where they committed their crime. We learn that very few people (if any) are born evil, but that the forces that shape us as we grow up can lead to the most tragic of outcomes.

Dr. Vartkessian will be in conversation with journalist Angie Coiro.

We are delighted to be joined by founding member and Co-Director of Uncuffed, Greg Eskridge. He will speak about the work is doing to empower people in Pr*son to tell their own stories.

COVID SAFETY PROTOCOLS: We strongly encourage attendees to wear masks at our events, although they will NOT be required. We will have masks available for attendees who want them. Do NOT attend the event if you, or any member of your family, have any respiratory symptoms (e.g. cough, runny nose, and/or sore throat), or have had a significant exposure to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

ACCESSIBILITY: We never want cost to be a barrier to admission for our community. Please email events [at] keplers [dot] org if you would like to attend this event but cannot afford a ticket. To request an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for this event, please email events [at] keplers [dot] org at least one week prior to the event.

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