As ongoing national protests against police violence take place during a global pandemic that’s proven especially dangerous in jails and prisons, Jonathan Rapping sees a common thread in the dual crises currently dominating news headlines and social discourse: the need to improve public defense. That perspective has shaped Rapping’s career, from founding Gideon’s Promise, a renowned nonprofit public defender training organization, to receiving a “genius” grant from the MacArthur Foundation in 2014. For the past 13 years, he’s also taught at John Marshall Law School in Atlanta, Georgia.