In the Shadow of Death: Restorative Justice and Death Row Families is a new book by Professors Elizabeth Beck, Sarah Britto, and Arlene Andrews that exam­ines the debil­i­tat­ing effects that a death sen­tence can have on the fam­i­lies of the offend­ers. With a for­ward by Steve Earle, the book pro­vides an in-depth analy­sis of restora­tive jus­tice, which focus­es on crime as an act against an indi­vid­ual or the com­mu­ni­ty, rather than the state.

In their exam­i­na­tion of how cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment impacts the fam­i­lies of the accused, the authors use real sto­ries to illus­trate how the feel­ings of anguish and pow­er­less­ness are com­pound­ed by the prospect of their loved one’s exe­cu­tion. The book con­tends that these indi­vid­u­als should have a more influ­en­tial voice with­in soci­ety because they play an impor­tant role in the nation’s death penalty debate. 

(Oxford University Press, 2007). See Books and Victims.

Citation Guide