Mark Melton is a partner in one of the largest law firms in the United States where he helps clients buy and sell companies around the globe. During the pandemic, he founded the Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center, which defends thousands of tenants each year facing eviction and has revolutionized the way pro bono legal services are provided to the poor.

“Democracy is more than voting and elections. At its essence it is neighbors and strangers working together to do the things we couldn’t accomplish by ourselves. Mark exemplifies this by serving those who by circumstance or by design would otherwise never have a shot. If you care about housing, dignity, or the basic promise of equal justice, this is essential reading. An inspiring story.” —Beto O’Rourke"Injustice of the Peace is a vivid account of what happens when the protections of the law exist on paper but disappear in practice. Drawing on years spent inside eviction courts and alongside tenants facing the loss of their homes, Mark Melton shows with bracing clarity the difference the simple presence, or absence, of legal representation can make. Reading this remarkable book only reinforced for me how utterly essential legal services are to any serious response to this country's housing and homelessness crisis—and how little rights mean when no one is there to insist they be honored." —Brian Goldstone, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of There Is No Place for Us“With powerful stories of battling an eviction system rigged for landlords—in the courthouse, the statehouse, and tenants’ front yards—Mark Melton offers a rousing personal history of his unlikely transformation into a tireless advocate for due process. Injustice of the Peace is both an indictment of a legal order that fails the most vulnerable and a practical playbook for anyone hoping to fight back through innovative advocacy. Just Mercy meets Evicted.” —Adam Benforado, New York Times bestselling author of Unfair: The New Science of Criminal Injustice"The American eviction system routinely violates tenants’ fundamental constitutional rights, reducing a day in court to a conveyor belt of systemic, unrelenting poverty and trauma. Injustice of the Peace exposes the unfairness inherent in our current framework, documenting the human cost inflicted on families with young children, elderly people, and hardworking neighbors trapped in a cycle of severe harm. These are not isolated tragedies; they illustrate how our legal system actively codifies homelessness and deepens trauma. Having survived these systemic cracks firsthand, Mark Melton refused to stand by as his neighbors were pushed out of their homes, their belongings piled on street corners. Melton dismantles the myth that the eviction crisis is inevitable and offers proof that when tenants have legal representation, the system itself must change. This book is an inspiring, urgent call to action to balance the scales of justice and secure housing justice for all.” —Emily A. Benfer, Professor of Law, George Washington University, National Housing Law Project, Princeton University Eviction Lab