Results by title
53 books match the query 'Capital punishment' and 4 start with l
Lethal Injection
Capital Punishment in Texas during the Modern EraBy Jon Sorensen and Rocky LeAnn Pilgrim
University of Texas Press, 2006
Few state issues have attracted as much controversy and national attention as the application of the death penalty in Texas. In the years since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, Texas has led the nation in passing death sentences and executing prisoners. The vigor with which Texas has implemented capital punishment has, however, raised more than a few questions. Why has Texas been so fervent in pursuing capital punishment? Has an aggressive death penalty produced any benefits? Have dangerous criminals been deterred? Have rights been trampled in the process and, most importantly, have innocents been executed? These important questions form the core of Lethal Injection: Capital Punishment in Texas during the Modern Era.
This book is the first comprehensive empirical study of Texas's system of capital punishment in the modern era. Jon Sorensen and Rocky Pilgrim use a wealth of information gathered from formerly confidential prisoner records and a variety of statistical sources to test and challenge traditional preconceptions concerning racial bias, deterrence, guilt, and the application of capital punishment in this state. The results of their balanced analysis may surprise many who have followed the recent debate on this important issue.
Life after Death
What Happens When Someone Survives an Execution?Austin D. Sarat
Temple University Press, 2027
In May and October of 2026, the Tennessee Department of Corrections failed to execute first Tony Carruthers and then Christa Pike via lethal injection. Their experiences raise the question of whether a second execution would be constitutional and fuel the debate over whether the death penalty can ever be anything but cruel and unusual punishment.
In Life after Death, esteemed legal scholar and student of capital punishment Austin Sarat tells the stories of eight others who, like Carruthers and Pike, survived failed execution attempts. He recounts what went wrong and what happened to them after their near-death experiences. Some endured the trauma of a second execution; others remained incarcerated for the rest of their lives. But each case posed distinctive challenges for courts and public officials.
Sarat insists that the death penalty can never be humane and that no one should ever have to face a second trip to the execution chamber. Life after Death urges Americans to recognize those realities. It offers a critical examination of the way the justice system uses capital punishment, and it does so by telling the stories of prisoners who survive efforts to put them to death.
Life in the Balance
Procedural Safeguards in Capital CasesWelsh S. White. Foreword by Hugo Adam Bedau
University of Michigan Press, 1984
Litigating in the Shadow of Death
Defense Attorneys in Capital CasesWelsh S. White
University of Michigan Press, 2005
"Anyone who cares about capital punishment should read this compelling, lucid account of the obstacles defense attorneys face and the strategies they adopt."
--John Parry, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
"With its compelling narratives of cases, strategies, and ethical dilemmas, Litigating in the Shadow of Death is difficult to put down. . . . This pathbreaking book encapsulates the experience of the most respected capital defenders in America and shows how they save even the worst of the worst from execution. It also shows how sleeping and otherwise incompetent lawyers bring death sentences to their clients. Litigating in the Shadow of Death explores the lawyers' tasks at every stage of the criminal process--investigation, client interviewing, conferring with victims' families, plea bargaining, trial, appeal, and post-conviction proceedings."
--Albert W. Alschuler, Julius Kreeger Professor of Law and Criminology, University of Chicago
"A unique and profoundly important contribution to the literature on the death penalty. White allows the leading capital defense attorneys to speak in their own voices. His work reveals a new source of arbitrariness in the death system--whether the penalty is imposed turns more on who is your lawyer than on how evil was your deed or your character. Litigating in the Shadow of Death offers concrete guidelines for better lawyering, protection of the innocent, and understanding the artistry of the best capital attorneys. This is vivid, gripping stuff."
--Andrew Taslitz, Professor of Law, Howard University
"A most illuminating book by a splendid writer and an eminent critic of the capital punishment system."
--Yale Kamisar, Professor of Law, University of San Diego
"Welsh White has written another excellent book on the death penalty--this one on how defense attorneys in capital cases successfully prevent the state from executing their clients. Based on original research, Litigating in the Shadow of Death is informative and insightful. This is a book that all serious students of American capital punishment must read."
--Richard Leo, University of California, Irvine
Welsh S. White was Bessie McKee Walthour Endowed Chair and Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh.