Murdering Myths: The Story Behind the Death Penalty, a new book by Judith W. Kay, uses the per­son­al expe­ri­ences of both crime vic­tims’ fam­i­lies and those on death row to exam­ine America’s beliefs about crime and pun­ish­ment. Noting that researchers have raised ques­tions about the exe­cu­tion of inno­cent peo­ple, racial bias in sen­tenc­ing, and cap­i­tal pun­ish­men­t’s fail­ure to act as a deter­rent, Kay asks why Americans still sup­port the death penal­ty. She uses inter­views with those most close­ly impact­ed by vio­lent crime and cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment to exam­ine whether pun­ish­ment cor­rects bad behav­ior, suf­fer­ing pays for wrong deeds, and if the vic­tims’ desire for revenge is nat­ur­al and inevitable. Kay is an asso­ciate pro­fes­sor of reli­gion at the University of Puget Sound. (“Murdering Myths: The Story Behind the Death Penalty,” Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., June 2005). See Books. See also, Victims.
Citation Guide