Professor Robert M. Bohm has pub­lished a new book on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, The Ultimate Sanction: Understanding the Death Penalty Through Its Many Voices and Many Sides. The book looks at the death penal­ty through inter­views with peo­ple affect­ed by the sys­tem in dif­fer­ent ways. ​“We must,” Bohm writes, ​“begin to under­stand the reach of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment beyond just the vic­tim and the per­pe­tra­tor.” To that end, he includes per­spec­tives from inves­ti­ga­tors, pros­e­cu­tors, prison war­dens, vic­tims’ and offend­ers’ fam­i­lies, judges, and attor­neys. The book uses inter­views to explore issues of deter­rence, ret­ri­bu­tion, and fair­ness, while tak­ing a unique look at how the death penal­ty affects those who par­tic­i­pate in the sys­tem. In con­clu­sion, Bohm sug­gests that cap­i­tal pun­ish­men­t’s col­lat­er­al dam­age is anoth­er rea­son for recon­sid­er­ing the wis­dom of this ultimate sanction.

Robert Bohm holds a Ph.D. in Criminology from Florida State University and is cur­rent­ly a pro­fes­sor of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies at the University of Central Florida. He is also a for­mer corrections officer.

(R. Bohm, ​“Ultimate Sanction: Understanding the Death Penalty Through Its Many Voices and Many Sides,” Kaplan Publishing, 2010). See more Books on the death penal­ty and New Voices.

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