A system of law presents at least two faces: a sheltering force protecting citizens' rights and a potentially oppressive instrument of control. These two aspects of the law have reveled themselves powerfully during thirty-five years on the bench. Fiction can vividly portray the dilemmas posed by a legal system. A discussion of these challenges may help us to understand law's essential role, while allowing us to recognize and confront its imperfections. Judge Ponsor serves as a senior US district judge in the United States District Court for the Massachusetts Western Division.  

Hon. Michael Ponsor is one of the few judges to oversee a death penalty case and he reflects on the experience in his first novel, The Hanging Judge. His more recent novel, The One-Eyed Judge, explores sex-related crimes. The audience may ask questions and purchase his books following the talk.