JUDGED Book Club Guide

Discussion questions for reading groups. They’re light on spoilers, but they work best after everyone has finished the book.

1. JUDGED opens with a 9–3 verdict that Louisiana treated as final. Before reading, did you know some states once allowed non-unanimous jury verdicts? How did knowing that change the way you read the story?

2. Reggie maintained his innocence for forty-four years. What does a wait that long take from a person, and who else carries it with him?

3. El is appointed to review a single piece of evidence. When did the assignment stop feeling narrow to you, and when did it stop feeling narrow to her?

4. The book asks, “What happens when the law does not fail, but works exactly as intended?” How would you answer that now that you’ve finished it?

5. The case is shaped by silence, power, and a verdict. Which of those three forces felt strongest to you, and why?

6. Rosalie Dupre was nineteen. How did you think about her while reading a story centered on the man convicted of her murder?

7. Decades of appeals were rejected. What does the story suggest about the gap between what is legal and what is just?

8. How does Louisiana, and New Orleans in particular, shape the people and the case? Could this story have happened anywhere else?

9. Whose choices were hardest for you to judge? Did your view of anyone change by the last page?

10. The title is one word. Who in this book is being judged, and by whom?

Reading JUDGED with your group? Let Regina know through the Contact page.