Books

Items: 191 — 200


Dec 20, 2005

New Resources: New Book Focuses on Clemency in Capital Cases

A new book by Professor Austin Sarat (pic­tured) focus­es on clemen­cy’s role in the U.S. crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem: Mercy on Trial: What It Means to Stop an Execution.” According to U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, This thought­ful book should be read by every cit­i­zen who cares about the issue, and by every gov­er­nor and pres­i­dent entrust­ed with the pow­er to pun­ish or par­don.” In Mercy on Trial,” Sarat reviews the com­plex­i­ties of clemen­cy and exam­ines issues such as reha­bil­i­ta­tion. (Princeton…

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Dec 01, 2005

NEW RESOURCES: Two New Books Address Life in Prison

Two new books by American University Criminology Professor Robert Johnson, includ­ing one book of satire and a sec­ond book of short sto­ries co-authored with pris­on­er Victor Hassine and crim­i­nol­o­gist Ania Dobrzanska, address life in prison and on death row in the United States. Johnson’s first book of satire, Justice Follies,” offers a col­lec­tion of par­o­dies that seek to high­light a host of prob­lems with­in the American prison sys­tem. This book made me laugh out loud. It is out­ra­geous… and…

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Oct 21, 2005

NEW RESOURCE: The Death Penalty: Constitutional Issues, Commentaries and Case Briefs

The Death Penalty: Constitutional Issues, Commentaries and Case Briefs is a new text­book that brings togeth­er many of the legal issues of the death penal­ty and presents them in an easy-to-digest form. The book pro­vides a brief ret­ro­spec­tive analy­sis of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment over the past two cen­turies, and then details the cur­rent sta­tus of the U.S. death penal­ty. With a chap­ter that focus­es on the U.S. Supreme Court cas­es Furman v. Georgia and Gregg v. Georgia, as well as chap­ters on race, the…

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Aug 30, 2005

NEW RESOURCE: Victims of Justice Revisited” Explores the Extraordinary Case of Rolando Cruz

Victims of Justice Revisited, a new book by Thomas Frisbie and Randy Garrett, details the inno­cence case of Rolando Cruz, an Illinois man who was wrong­ly con­vict­ed and sent to death row for the 1983 mur­der of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico. The book tells the sto­ry of Cruz and his two co-defen­dants, Alejandro Hernandez and Stephen Buckley, from the day of the crime to the ground­break­ing tri­al of sev­en law enforce­ment offi­cers accused of con­spir­ing to deny Cruz a fair tri­al. Cruz’s case…

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Aug 24, 2005

NEW RESOURCE: The Cultural Lives of Capital Punishment”

The Cultural Lives of Capital Punishment, a new book edit­ed by pro­fes­sor Austin Sarat of Amherst College and lec­tur­er Christian Boulanger of the Free University in Berlin, exam­ines the com­pli­cat­ed dynam­ics of the death penal­ty in eleven nations to deter­mine what role cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment plays in defin­ing a coun­try’s polit­i­cal and cul­tur­al iden­ti­ty. The edi­tors note that a nation’s val­ues and cul­tur­al his­to­ry influ­ence its rela­tion­ship with cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. The book includes…

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Jun 30, 2005

NEW RESOURCE: Murdering Myths — The Story Behind the Death Penalty

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…

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Jun 08, 2005

BOOKS : Hidden Victims: The Effects of the Death Penalty on Families of the Accused”

Hidden Victims,” a new book by soci­ol­o­gist Susan F. Sharp of the University of Oklahoma, exam­ines the impact of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment on the fam­i­lies of those fac­ing exe­cu­tion. Through a series of in-depth inter­views with fam­i­lies of the accused, Sharp illus­trates from a soci­o­log­i­cal stand­point how fam­i­ly mem­bers and friends of those on death row are, in effect, indi­rect vic­tims of the ini­tial crime. The book empha­sizes their respons­es to sen­tenc­ing, as well as how they grieve and face an…

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Apr 20, 2005

NEW RESOURCE: A Life and Death Decision” Examines Jury Deliberations

Scott Sundby’s new book, A Life and Death Decision: A Jury Weighs the Death Penalty” is an impar­tial look at cap­i­tal jury delib­er­a­tions through the exam­i­na­tion of data col­lect­ed by the Capital Jury Project and oth­er stud­ies of group deci­sion-mak­ing. Drawing on the Capital Jury Project’s inter­views with more than 1,000 jurors from across the coun­try who had tak­en part in death penal­ty cas­es, the book address­es cru­cial issues such as jury instruc­tions, jury room set­up, and voir dire…

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Apr 20, 2005

NEW RESOURCE: Executed on a Technicality”

Executed on a Technicality: Lethal Injustice on America’s Death Row, by Professor David Dow, is a behind-the-scenes look at the death penal­ty through the lens of an attor­ney who for­mer­ly sup­port­ed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Dow, who teach­es at the University of Houston Law Center and found­ed the Texas Innocence Network, pro­vides case his­to­ries illus­trat­ing seri­ous flaws in the death penal­ty sys­tem. He uses these cas­es to guide read­ers through a web of coerced con­fes­sions, incompetent…

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