A cool, patient voice that draws the reader in. Von Schirach...has the talent to dazzle.'New York Times Book ReviewA private boys' school that harbours a gang of teenage exorcists.A drug deal that goes bizarrely awry when a dog gets involved.A couple who like to swing–until one partner hits the wall.A brutal gang rape whose perpetrators are known but cannot be convicted.Crimes, bad decisions, accidents and breaking points; acts of savagery, betrayal and self-sacrifice. In these stories Ferdinand von Schirach, one of Germany's most prominent defence lawyers, presents the case for human fallibility. Calmly, rationally, he reveals to us the weave of circumstance that may trap our fellow citizen in his, or her, destiny. In doing so he shows us the criminal in ourselves.