Ebook208 pages4 hours
Facing the Death Penalty: Essays on a Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this ebook
"These essays...show us the human and inhuman realities of capital punishment through the eyes of the condemned and those who work with them. By focusing on those awaiting death, they present the awful truth behind the statistics in concrete, personal terms."
--William J. Bowers, author of Legal Homicide
Between 1930 and 1967, there were 3,859 executions carried out under state and civil authority in the United States. Since the ten-year moratorium on capital punishment ended in 1977, more than one hundred prisoners have been executed. There are more than two thousand men and women now living on death row awaiting their executions. Facing the Death Penalty offers an in-depth examination of what life under a sentence of death is like for condemned inmates and their families, how and why various professionals assist them in their struggle for life, and what these personal experiences with capital punishment tell us about the wisdom of this penal policy.
The contributors include historians, attorneys, sociologists, anthropologists, criminologists, a minister, a philosopher, and three prisoners. One of the prisoner-contributors is Willie Jasper Darden, Jr., whose case and recent execution after fourteen years on death row drew international attention. The inter-disciplinary perspectives offered in this book will not solve the death penalty debate, but they offer important and unique insights on the full effects of American capital punishment provisions. While the book does not set out to generate sympathy for those convicted of horrible crimes, taken together, the essays build a case for abolition of the death penalty.
"This work stands with the best of what's been written. It represents the best of those who have seen the worst."
--Colman McCarthy, The Washington Post Book World
--William J. Bowers, author of Legal Homicide
Between 1930 and 1967, there were 3,859 executions carried out under state and civil authority in the United States. Since the ten-year moratorium on capital punishment ended in 1977, more than one hundred prisoners have been executed. There are more than two thousand men and women now living on death row awaiting their executions. Facing the Death Penalty offers an in-depth examination of what life under a sentence of death is like for condemned inmates and their families, how and why various professionals assist them in their struggle for life, and what these personal experiences with capital punishment tell us about the wisdom of this penal policy.
The contributors include historians, attorneys, sociologists, anthropologists, criminologists, a minister, a philosopher, and three prisoners. One of the prisoner-contributors is Willie Jasper Darden, Jr., whose case and recent execution after fourteen years on death row drew international attention. The inter-disciplinary perspectives offered in this book will not solve the death penalty debate, but they offer important and unique insights on the full effects of American capital punishment provisions. While the book does not set out to generate sympathy for those convicted of horrible crimes, taken together, the essays build a case for abolition of the death penalty.
"This work stands with the best of what's been written. It represents the best of those who have seen the worst."
--Colman McCarthy, The Washington Post Book World
Related to Facing the Death Penalty
Related ebooks
Cruel and Unusual: The Supreme Court and Capital Punishment Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America's Death Penalty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Words of the Executed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Meaning of Life: The Case for Abolishing Life Sentences Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe History of the Death Penalty in Colorado Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cultural Lives of Capital Punishment: Comparative Perspectives Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeath Penalty Cases: Leading U.S. Supreme Court Cases on Capital Punishment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Trigger: Narratives of the American Shooter Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Bygone Punishments Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIncarceration and human rights: The Oxford Amnesty Lectures Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKilling Others: A Natural History of Ethnic Violence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Death of Punishment: Searching for Justice among the Worst of the Worst Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSmoke but No Fire: Convicting the Innocent of Crimes that Never Happened Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHearts of Darkness: Why Kids Are Becoming Mass Murderers and How We Can Stop It Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFelony Murder Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Psychology and Sociology of Wrongful Convictions: Forensic Science Reform Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlood Thirst; The True Story of Wayne Boden Vampire Rapist & Serial Killer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsExecution: A History of Capital Punishment in Britain Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lethal State: A History of the Death Penalty in North Carolina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen the State Kills: Capital Punishment and the American Condition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Working on the Railroad, Walking in Beauty: Navajos, Hozho, and Track Work Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Phenomenon of Torture: Readings and Commentary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThis Side of Silence: Human Rights, Torture, and the Recognition of Cruelty Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOld Sparky: The Electric Chair and the History of the Death Penalty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Destruction and human remains: Disposal and concealment in genocide and mass violence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Little Book of Crime and Punishment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNight Prowlers A Collection of True Crime Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCity of Omens: A Search for the Missing Women of the Borderlands Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The victim in the Irish criminal process Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Social Science For You
My Secret Garden: Women's Sexual Fantasies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fervent: A Woman's Battle Plan to Serious, Specific, and Strategic Prayer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Questions for Couples: 469 Thought-Provoking Conversation Starters for Connecting, Building Trust, and Rekindling Intimacy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Art of Witty Banter: Be Clever, Quick, & Magnetic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Come As You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Body Is Not an Apology, Second Edition: The Power of Radical Self-Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Human Condition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row (Oprah's Book Club Selection) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Women Don't Owe You Pretty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Feminist: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Verbal Judo, Second Edition: The Gentle Art of Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denial of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Facing the Death Penalty
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Facing the Death Penalty - Michael Radelet
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1