Jonathan Rapping

Jonathan Rapping
Occupation	Public Defender, Professor
Organization	Gideon's Promise
Known for	2014 recipient of MacArthur "Genius" Award
Home town	Atlanta, GA

Jonathan Rapping is a criminal defense lawyer, founder and president of Gideon's Promise, and an advocate for criminal justice system reform. Rapping is the 2014 recipient of MacArthur "Genius" Award.^[1]

Education

Jonathan Rapping received an A.B. (1988) from the University of Chicago, an M.P.A. (1992) from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and a J.D. (1995) from George Washington University.^[2]

Legal career

Public defender

After law school, he worked staff attorney for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (1995–2004), where he served his final three years as training director.^[2] From 2004-2006, Rapping was the training director for the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council.^[2] From 2006-2007, he served as training chief for the New Orleans Office of the Public Defender.^[2]

Gideon's Promise

in 2007 Rapping created the Southern Public Defender Training Center, subsequently renamed Gideon’s Promise. Named after the landmark 1963 Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright, Gideon’s Promise teaches public defenders to work more effectively within the judicial system by providing coaching, training, and professional development as well as a supportive network of peers and mentors from around the country. Since its founding, the organization has grown from a single training program for 16 attorneys in 2 offices in Georgia and Louisiana, to a multi-tiered enterprise with over 300 participants in more than 35 offices across 15 mostly Southern states. An initial three-year “Core” program for new public defenders has since expanded into a comprehensive model that includes programs for graduates of the initial Core program as they continue their development, public defender leaders, trainers and supervisors, and law students. Further, the organization is unique in that it intervenes at the trial stage, rather than after conviction, where challenges to criminal injustice often take place.^[2]

In 2013, HBO Films produced a documentary called Gideon's Army, based in part on the Gideon's Promise program and highlighting participants in the program.

In 2014, Rapping became the Director of Strategic Planning and Organizational Development for the Maryland Office of the Public Defender. In 2014, Rapping earned a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant."^[3]

Law professor

Since 2007, Rapping has also been an associate professor at Atlanta's John Marshall Law School.^[2] Rapping is also a visiting associate professor of law at Harvard Law School.^[4]

Writings & views

Rapping regularly writes about issues related to criminal defense and the criminal justice system.^[5]

Awards

• Sentencing Project Award from National Association of Sentencing Advocates and Mitigation Specialists (2013)
• Public Interest Scholar in Residence at Touro Law School (2013)^[6]
• Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow, Harvard Law School (2009)^[4]
  • One of nine Wasserstein Public Interest Fellows recognized for their contribution to the public interest legal community.
  • Recognized for the work of Gideon's Promise and its efforts to build a new generation of public defenders in the South.
• Invited Participant, Public Defense Leadership Focus Group (2008)
  • One of twenty-four national experts in the field invited to participate in a focus group to explore strategies for improving the quality of indigent defense nationwide.
  • Sponsored by U.S. Department of Justice, National Legal Aid and Defender Association, American University
• Lincoln Leadership Award (2007)
  • Awarded by Kentucky’s Department of Public Advocacy
  • Co-recipient for leading the reorganization and rebuilding of Orleans Parish Public Defender System following Hurricane Katrina.
• Soros Justice Advocacy Fellowship (2007)
  • Awarded to support the development of Gideon's Promise
  • Awarded by the Soros Foundation

References