Books

“Blue Rage, Black Redemption: A Memoir” by Stanley Tookie Williams is a first-hand account of Williams’ personal journey from co-founding the notorious Crips gang to becoming a reformed prisoner and activist for youth from behind bars on California’s death row. The book, which has an epilogue by Barbara Becnel and a foreward by Tavis Smiley, details how Williams became a powerful anti-gang activist during the two decades he spent on death row prior to his December 2005 execution. Williams’ book…

In “Jingle Jangle,” author Jim Rix tells the story of his cousin, Ray Krone, who was wrongly convicted and sentenced to die in 1992 for the murder of a bartender in Phoenix. The book details efforts to exonerate Krone, including the important role Rix played in investigating his cousin’s innocence claim. “Jingle Jangle” reveals how inaccurate testimony from a forensic science expert and prosecutorial misconduct led to Krone’s wrongful conviction. It also closely examines other problems that…

“The Death Penalty: America’s Experience with Capital Punishment” by Professors Raymond Paternoster, Robert Brame, and Sarah Bacon is a comprehensive review of the death penalty in the U.S. Issues covered include the history of the death penalty in America and the changing nature of the U.S. death penalty, including such topics as eligible crimes, trial procedures, and methods of execution. In addition, the book covers questions about the influence of race on the death penalty, the execution of…

A new book by Bruce Watson examines the case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrants whose guilt remains in serious doubt eight decades after Massachusetts carried out their death sentences. The book, “Sacco & Vanzetti: The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind” (Viking, 2007), provides a factual account of the case surrounding the two men, who were convicted of stealing a shoe factory’s pay envelopes and killing four people in the crime. Watson’s investigation…

A new book by Charles D. Flores details his personal experience as an inmate on Texas’ death row. The book, Warrior Within: Inside Report on Texas Death Row, provides a first-hand account of Flores’ death penalty trial and his experiences awaiting execution. It explores his quest to learn more about the law as he fights to prove his innocence and win his freedom. In the book, Flores writes, “I started to comprehend what it meant to be on death row. I was beginning to understand it was a race…

In the third edition of what some have called “the first true textbook on the death penalty,” author Robert Bohm, a correctional officer turned college professor, engages the reader with a full account of the arguments and issues surrounding capital punishment. His book, “DeathQuest III: An Introduction to the Theory & Practice of Capital Punishment in the United States,” begins with the history of the death penalty from colonial to modern times, and then examines the moral and legal arguments…

In his new book, “The Big Eddy Club: The Stocking Stranglings and Southern Justice,” author David Rose examines issues of race and the death penalty. The book relates the story of Carlton Gary, who was convicted of capital murder in 1986 and remains on Georgia’s death row for the rape and murder of several elderly women in Columbus, Georgia. Rose, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, links Gary’s conviction to a history of bias in Columbus and the South. “The Big Eddy Club” details the…

“Towards the Abolition of the Death Penalty in Africa: A Human Rights Perspective” is a new book by Lilian Chenwi that examines the history of capital punishment in Africa and the continent’s emerging trend away from the death penalty. In her book, Chenwi details the impact that both international human rights organizations and international treaties have had on shifting African views about capital punishment. This resource includes chapters on the history and current state of capital…

In “Dead Wrong: Violence, Vengeance, and the Victims of Capital Punishment,” author Richard Stack uses cases to examine three of the main causes of wrongful convictions — mistaken eyewitness testimony, official misconduct, and incompetent counsel. Stack, a professor at American University’s School of Communication, based the book on three years of research conducted with the assistance of students enrolled in his public communication classes. He said that he wrote the book to “put a human face”…