NCJ Number
176023
Editor(s)
L E Randa
Date Published
1997
Length
282 pages
Annotation
This book explores the historical basis for the death penalty and examines it from multiple perspectives.
Abstract
The articles in this volume explore the historical basis for the death penalty using perspectives of legal thinkers, legal practitioners, public officials, family members of victims and convicted death row inmates. Topics discussed in the book's 21 chapters include: (1) due process of law; (2) the role of a prosecutor in a death penalty case; (3) tracking a death penalty case; (4) whether racist beliefs and organizational affiliation can be taken into account in a capital-sentencing proceeding; (5) whether defendants have the right to ask prospective jurors if they would automatically impose the death penalty; (6) assessing the danger of mistaken execution; (7) the trial and appeal process in Delaware; (8) the Board of Pardons; (9) alternatives to the death penalty; (10) the high costs of the death penalty; (11) the death penalty and Justice Blackmun; (12) Justice Thurgood Marshall, lynching and the death penalty; and (13) capital punishment and offenders with mental retardation. Notes, index