About this Event
In Cast Out, civil rights lawyer Joseph Margulies insists that those who commit even the most heinous crimes are one of us and should be judged in a spirit of forgiveness. He explains that American society is too often unforgiving, preferring to cast out those we consider irredeemable by fixating narrowly on the question, “What did they do?”, and imagining that those who have done great wrongs have no past worth learning and no future worth preserving.
But judgment in a forgiving spirit demands that we ask, “What happened?” What brought a human being to this place. Through intimate interviews, his rich chapters bring to life six men and women, sharing their (sometimes brutal) crimes, the grim but all-too-human paths that led them there, and their evolution and insights.
Eye-opening and unflinching, Cast Out makes us truly see those society locks away—the so-called “worst of the worst”. It challenges the reader to see us in them and them in us, and in that way, to recognize the humanity we all share.
Joseph Margulies is joining us on the Busboys stage alongside Robin Maher to tell the stories “people who have done monstrous things but are not monsters” (Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking). Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Margulies will be signing following the program.
This event is free and open to all. Doors open to guests at 4:30pm. Our program begins at 5:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of CAST OUT will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is IN PERSON and will NOT be livestreamed.
We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books
Joseph Margulies is a writer, a litigator, and professor of the Practice of Government at Cornell University. As a civil rights lawyer, he was Counsel of Record in Rasul v. Bush in 2004, which gave Guantánamo detainees the right to challenge their detention in federal court, and in Munaf v. Geren in 2008, which gave American citizens the right to challenge their detention by the US government.
Robin Maher is the Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center. She has extensive experience in the death penalty field, including direct representation and training of judges and defense lawyers throughout the United States and internationally. Her work with legislators, prosecutors, judges, defenders, and bar associations has been focused on improving the fairness and accuracy of death penalty cases and reducing the errors and mistakes that lead to wrongful convictions.
BOOK DETAILS
Cast Out
A Call for a Forgiving Society in an Age of Incarceration
By Joseph Margulies
September 15, 2026 | Hardcover, 184 Pages, $27.95
Event venue & nearby stays
Busboys and Poets, 450 K Street Northwest, Washington, United States
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