Author:
Paternoster, Raymond.
Imprint:New York : Oxford University Press, 2008.
Descriptionxviii, 314 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.
Note:part I. The enduring legacy of capital punishment in the United States -- Introduction -- 1. Capital punishment in the early period : 1608-1929 -- Capital crimes and capital statutes in the early period -- Characteristics of executions in the early period -- Changes in the practice of the death penalty in the early period -- Methods of execution in the early period -- Location of the death penalty in the early period -- Chapter summary -- Discussion questions -- Student resources -- Endnotes -- 2. Capital punishment in the premodern period : 1930-1967 -- Capital crimes and capital statutes in the premodern period -- Characteristics of executions in the premodern period -- Methods of execution in the premodern period -- Location of the death penalty in the premodern period -- Chapter summary -- Discussion questions -- Student resources -- Endnotes -- 3. Capital punishment in the modern period : 1976-present -- Capital crimes and capital statutes in the modern period -- Characteristics of executions in the modern period -- Methods of execution in the modern period -- Location of the death penalty in the modern period -- Changes in the practice of the death penalty in the modern period -- The federal and military death penalty -- Chapter summary -- Discussion questions -- Student resources -- Endnotes --part II. Legal history, constitutional requirements, and common justifications for capital punishment in the United States -- Introduction -- 4. A brief legal history of capital punishment in the United States -- Early constitutional challenges to the method of imposing death -- Constitutional theories about what the Eighth Amendment prohibits -- A definition of 'cruel and unusual' -- The death penalty's decline in popularity and challenges to its constitutionality, the prelude to McGautha volume California -- The death penalty is not procedurally flawed, the case of McGautha volume California -- The death penalty as currently administered is so procedurally flawed that it constitutes 'cruel and unusual punishment,' the case of Furman volume Georgia -- Chapter summary -- Discussion questions -- Student resources -- Endnotes -- 5. Constitutional requirements for capital punishment in the United States -- The response to Furman : mandatory and guided discretion capital statutes -- The execution of special groups, the retarded, the young, and the mentally ill -- The death penalty for the mentally retarded -- The death penalty for juveniles -- The death penalty for the mentally ill -- Chapter summary -- Discussion questions -- Student resources -- Endnotes -- 6. Common justifications for the death penalty -- Retribution : the moral argument for the death penalty -- Kantian retribution -- Berns' argument -- Van den Haag's argument -- Other retributivist views -- Some examples -- Cost : the financial argument for the death penalty -- Incapacitation : one of the public safety arguments for the death penalty -- General deterrence : the other public safety argument for the death penalty -- Sellin's research -- Ehrlich's strategy -- Other researchers -- Religious positions for and against the death penalty -- Chapter summary -- Discussion questions -- Student resources -- Endnotes --part III. The administration of the death penalty : issues of race and human fallability -- Introduction -- 7. Race, the law, and punishment -- The peculiar institution -- The slave codes -- Criminal codes -- Race and legal institutions after the Civil War -- The Black codes -- Radical reconstruction -- Jim Crow laws -- Disenfranchisement -- Violence against Blacks -- Chapter summary -- Discussion questions -- Student resources -- Endnotes -- 8. Race and capital punishment -- Race and capital punishment : 1930-1967 -- The indictment and charging decision -- The conviction and sentencing decision -- The commutation decision -- Evidence of racially disparate treatment in the courts -- Race and capital punishment, 1976 to the present -- The indictment and charging decision -- The conviction and sentencing decision -- Post-Furman evidence of racial discrimination in capital sentencing before the courts, McCleskey volume Kemp -- Chapter summary -- Discussion questions -- Student resources -- Endnotes -- 9. Problems in administering the death penalty -- The possibly innocent -- The Carlos DeLuna case -- The Joseph O'Dell case -- The Gary Graham case -- The exonerated -- Gary Gauger -- Anthony Porter -- Frank Lee Smith -- Kirk Bloodsworth -- Rolando Cruz -- Ryan Matthews -- A 'broken system' -- Ineffective or incompetent defense counsel -- Prosecutor and law enforcement misconduct -- Jail house snitches and 'junk science' -- Chapter summary -- Discussion questions -- Student resources -- Endnotes --part IV. What's to come of the death penalty -- Introduction -- 10. Capital punishment in America's future -- Public support for the death penalty in the United States -- The death penalty in other countries -- Predictions about the future of the death penalty in America -- What about life without the possibility of parole? -- Chapter summary -- Discussion questions -- Student resources -- Endnotes.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references (p. 282-295) and indexes.
