BOOKS: ​“The Death of the American Death Penalty”

A new book by Larry Koch, Colin Wark and John Galliher dis­cuss­es the sta­tus of the death penal­ty in the U.S. in light of recent leg­isla­tive activ­i­ty and court deci­sions. In The Death of the American Death Penalty, the authors exam­ine the impact of fac­tors such as eco­nom­ic con­di­tions, pub­lic sen­ti­ment, the role of elites, the media, and pop­u­la­tion diver­si­ty on the death penal­ty debate. The book high­lights the recent abo­li­tion deci­sions in New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Illinois, and the sur­pris­ing decline of the death penal­ty even in the deep South. James R. Acker, Distinguished Teaching Professor in Criminal Justice at the University at Albany, said, ​“Support for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in this coun­try, as mea­sured by the laws autho­riz­ing it, pros­e­cu­tors’ enthu­si­asm for seek­ing it, jury ver­dicts that dis­patch it, and exe­cu­tion­ers’ final deliv­er­ance, has erod­ed rapid­ly in recent years. A decade after the pub­li­ca­tion of its pre­de­ces­sor and car­ry­ing on in that volume’s fine tra­di­tion, The Death of the American Death Penalty pro­vides detailed expla­na­tions — the where, how, and why — of these dra­mat­ic devel­op­ments in death penal­ty laws and practices.”

Koch is an asso­ciate pro­fes­sor of soci­ol­o­gy at the University of Michigan, Flint. Wark is an assis­tant pro­fes­sor of psy­chol­o­gy and soci­ol­o­gy at Texas A&M University, Kingsville. Galliher is a pro­fes­sor of soci­ol­o­gy at University of Missouri, Columbia.

(L. Koch, C. Wark and J. Galliher, ​“The Death of the American Death Penalty: States Still Leading the Way,” Northeastern University Press (2012); post­ed by DPIC on September 7, 2012). See Books on the death penal­ty and Recent Legislative Activity.