In his new book “Jurors’ Stories of Death: How America’s Death Penalty Invests in Inequality,” author Benjamin Fleury-Steiner draws on real-life accounts of white and black jurors in capital trials to discuss the effect of race on the sentencing process. Through his survey of the jurors’ experiences, he reveals that race is often a factor in sentencing and that the U.S. justice system can foster an “us versus them” mentality among jurors serving in capital trials. Fleury-Steiner finds that the the jurors, who frequently view themselves as more law abiding and moral than the individual on trial, can have difficulty looking beyond that mindset as they examine complex mitigating evidence in determining the fate of often marginalized defendants. The book concludes that ending the death penalty is a crucial step toward eliminating the racism and classism that currently taints social relations in the U.S. Noted death penalty attorney Bryan Stevenson of Alabama remarked, “This illuminating and insightful examination of jury deliberations makes a terrific contribution to the study of capital punishment. Fleury-Steiner’s synthesis of sociological, legal and theoretical concepts with vivid juror narratives and statistical data, thoughtfully animates and details how race and class consciousness continue to shape America’s death penalty.” (University of Michigan Press, 2004). See Race. See also, Resources.