BOOKS: A Life for a Life – The American Debate Over the Death Penalty

In the book, A Life for a Life: The American Debate Over the Death Penalty, author Michael Dow Burkhead, a psy­chol­o­gist who has worked with crim­i­nal offend­ers for 25 years, explores the var­i­ous trends in pub­lic opin­ion that influ­ence crime pre­ven­tion efforts, cre­ate pub­lic pol­i­cy, and reform crim­i­nal law. He exam­ines eight core issues about the use of exe­cu­tions: cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment, dis­crim­i­na­tion, deter­rence, due process, cul­pa­bil­i­ty, scrip­ture, inno­cence, and jus­tice. The book pro­vides a brief his­to­ry of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the United States from the ear­li­est known exe­cu­tion in1608 to the present time. Additional top­ics include the region­al­iza­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sen­tences, the spir­i­tu­al and scrip­tur­al debate over the death penal­ty, the role of DNA evi­dence in mod­ern death sen­tences, and the ongo­ing effects recent court rul­ings. The appen­dix includes recent state com­mis­sion reports on the death penal­ty from Maryland, California, New Jersey, and Tennessee.

(Posted Aug.18, 2009, M. Burkhead, A Life for a Life: The American Debate Over the Death Penalty, McFarland & Co. 2009). See Books and Public Opinion.