Books
Items: 51 — 60
Oct 14, 2014
Death Penalty Lawyer Called America’s Mandela
In a recent column in the New York Times, Nicholas Kristof highlighted the work of Bryan Stevenson (pictured), referring to him as “America’s Nelson Mandela.” Stevenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Alabama, has focused his career on representing indigent defendants, especially those on death row throughout the south. In his new book, Just Mercy, Stevenson tells the story of representing and eventually winning the exoneration of Walter McMillian, a black man unjustly convicted and sentenced to death in 1988 for the murder of a white woman in…
Read MoreSep 30, 2014
BOOKS: “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson
Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Alabama, has written a new book, Just Mercy, about his experiences defending the poor and the wrongfully convicted throughout the south. It includes the story of one of Stevenson’s first cases as a young lawyer, that of Walter McMillian, who was eventually exonerated and freed from death row. McMillian, a black man, had been convicted of the murder of a white woman in Monroeville, Alabama. His trial lasted just a day and a half, prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence, and the judge…
Read MoreSep 17, 2014
BOOKS — CONSTITUTION DAY: “The Birth of American Law”
In The Birth of American Law: An Italian Philosopher and the American Revolution, historian John Bessler reveals the profound influence that the Italian thinker, Cesare Beccaria, had on the constitutional founders of the United States, including George Washington and John Adams. Beccaria’s bestselling book, On Crimes and Punishments, argued against torture and the death penalty, saying only punishments proven absolutely necessary should be used. Bessler shows that the death penalty was more controversial at the writing of the constitution than is often assumed today. America did abandon England’s Bloody Code…
Read MoreSep 11, 2014
BOOKS: “America’s Experiment with Capital Punishment”
The highly acclaimed resource on the death penalty — “America’s Experiment with Capital Punishment” — has just been released in its Third Edition. This compendium of essays by experts covers the history, politics, and law of the death penalty, as well as related issues, such as innocence, intellectual disability, and race. DPIC’s Executive Director, Richard Dieter, contributed a chapter on the costs of the death penalty. The editors encourage readers to grapple with the many questions surrounding capital punishment, saying, “Today, more than 40 years after the death penalty came…
Read MoreAug 14, 2014
DPIC RESOURCES: Educational Curricula on the Death Penalty
As schools begin their new terms, we would like to remind you of two educational resources on the death penalty free from DPIC. Our award-winning high school curriculum, Educational Curriculum on the Death Penalty, includes 10-day lesson plans, interactive maps and exercises, and a presentation of pros and cons on the death penalty for discussion and debate. It is also available as a free iBook for the Apple iPad. The iBook version incorporates the interactivity and user-friendly interface of a tablet, including touch-screen navigation, access to the full curriculum even…
Read MoreJul 08, 2014
BOOKS: “Questioning Capital Punishment”
Questioning Capital Punishment, a new book by James R. Acker, a professor of criminal justice at the University at Albany, provides a comprehensive overview of the death penalty in America. With a basis in court decisions and research studies, the book covers all the key issues and the arguments for and against capital punishment. Chapters are devoted to deterrence, sentencing criteria, racial discrimination, and innocence, among other topics. In reviewing the book, Carol Steiker, a professor at Harvard Law School, said, “In the rapidly changing political and legal landscape around…
Read MoreMay 28, 2014
BOOKS: “I Am Troy Davis”
I Am Troy Davis is a recent book by Jen Marlowe and Troy Davis’ sister, Martina Davis-Correia, that tells the story of a possibly innocent man who was executed in Georgia in 2011. Troy Davis was sentenced to death for the murder of a police officer in Savannah. Years later evidence casting doubts about his guilt emerged, including recantations from several of the witnesses who had testified against him. Pope Benedict XVI, President Jimmy Carter, and 51 members of Congress petitioned for his clemency. Regarding the book, actress Susan Sarandon…
Read MoreMay 15, 2014
BOOKS: “Gruesome Spectacles” Reveals the History of Botched Executions
A new book, Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America’s Death Penalty, describes the history of flawed executions in the U.S. from 1890 to 2010. During that period, 8,776 people were executed and 276 of those executions went wrong in some way. Of all the methods used, lethal injection had the highest rate of botched executions – about 7%. Austin Sarat, the author of the book and a professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, described the evolution of new methods of execution: “With each development in the technology of execution,…
Read MoreMar 24, 2014
BOOKS: Quest for Justice — Defending the Damned
In his book, “Quest for Justice: Defending the Damned,” Richard Jaffe explores the problems of the American death penalty system through his experience as a capital defense attorney in Alabama. During the past twenty years, Jaffe has helped secure the release of three death row inmates: Randall Padgett and Gary Drinkard, who were fully exonerated, and James Cochran, who was cleared of murder charges, but pleaded guilty to a related robbery charge. In his book, Jaffe wrote, “I always keep in mind the maxim that history will judge a society…
Read MoreFeb 18, 2014
BOOKS: “The Wrong Carlos” Argues Texas Executed an Innocent Man
One of the strongest accounts pointing to the execution of a probably innocent man in recent times concerns the case of Carlos DeLuna, who was executed in Texas in 1989. In a forthcoming book, The Wrong Carlos: Anatomy of a Wrongful Execution, Professor James Liebman of Columbia Law School describes his investigation into the case, along with a team of students. The investigation uncovered serious problems in DeLuna’s case, including faulty eyewitness testimony and the police’s failure to investigate another potential suspect. DeLuna maintained his innocence and said another man,…
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