**Brought to you by Penguin.
"It is not easy to defend a human accused of the worst offences imaginable. But my sleepless nights come from elsewhere. The most difficult clients of all: the ones who, on the wrong day, in the wrong circumstances, could be any one of us."**
A collection of real-life stories from a criminal defence barrister's hardest days, Mugshot will challenge your perception of good, bad, right and wrong.
We are obsessed with crime. With criminals. But who are the people behind the label of 'the Defendant' and how did they get there? What does it mean to defend someone, with all your might, against the force and resources of the state? What does it take? And what is the personal cost?
Defence barrister Joanna Hardy-Susskind presents us with eight true stories: eight real cases, eight real people.
They are the unusual suspects; normal people for whom the law came knocking. Some guilty. Some not. But each teaching us something about humans. About justice. And about what we are all capable of.
Join Joanna Hardy-Susskind as she takes us behind the mugshots, but also behind the wig and the gown, to meet the people underneath - the heartache and torment of the accused, and the feelings and fears of a front-line lawyer, their last line of defence.
© Joanna Hardy-Susskind 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025