NCJ Number
113635
Editor(s)
K C Haas,
J A Inciardi
Date Published
1988
Length
302 pages
Annotation
Nine papers combine social science research with legal knowledge to challenge arguments for the death penalty.
Abstract
Among the topics covered are the justice and humaneness of the death penalty in its actual implementation, the deterrent value of the death penalty compared to life imprisonment, the likelihood of executing an innocent person, the dynamics of jury decisionmaking and selection in capital cases, the courts' use of social science data, the imposition of the death penalty on juveniles, and life on death row. The papers present evidence that the death penalty kills innocent persons, is applied in an arbitrary and discriminatory manner, and is an ineffective deterrent for violent crime. Chapter notes, references, and indexes. For individual chapters, see 113636-45.