Capital Punishment on Trial

Capital Punishment on Trial PDF Author: David M. Oshinsky
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian takes a new and closer look at the Supreme Court's controversial and much-debated stance on capital punishment in the landmark case of Furman v. Georgia.

Capital Punishment on Trial

Capital Punishment on Trial PDF Author: David M. Oshinsky
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian takes a new and closer look at the Supreme Court's controversial and much-debated stance on capital punishment in the landmark case of Furman v. Georgia.

Jesus on Death Row

Jesus on Death Row PDF Author: Prof. Mark Osler
Publisher: Abingdon Press
ISBN: 1426722893
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
What does the most infamous criminal proceeding in history--the trial of Jesus of Nazareth--have to tell us about capital punishment in the United States? Jesus Christ was a prisoner on death row. If that statement surprises you, consider this fact: of all the roles that Jesus played--preacher, teacher, healer, mentor, friend--none features as prominently in the gospels as this one, a criminal indicted and convicted of a capital offense. Now consider another fact: the arrest, trial, and execution of Jesus bear remarkable similarities to the American criminal justice system, especially in capital cases. From the use of paid informants to the conflicting testimony of witnesses to the denial of clemency, the elements in the story of Jesus' trial mirror the most common components in capital cases today. Finally, consider a question: How might we see capital punishment in this country differently if we realized that the system used to condemn the Son of God to death so closely resembles the system we use in capital cases today? Should the experience of Jesus' trial, conviction, and execution give us pause as we take similar steps to place individuals on death row today? These are the questions posed by this surprising, challenging, and enlightening book

Death Penalty on Trial

Death Penalty on Trial PDF Author: Bill Kurtis
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 0786734035
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Bill Kurtis, anchor of the wildly popular true-crime TV series Cold Case Files and American Justice, used to support the death penalty. But after observing the machinations of the justice system for thirty years, he came to a stunning realization that changed his life: Capital punishment is wrong. There can be no real justice in America until it is abolished. In The Death Penalty on Trial, Kurtis takes readers on his most remarkable investigative journey yet. Together, we revisit murder scenes, study the evidence, and explore the tactical decisions made before and during trials that send innocent people to death row. We examine the eight main reasons why the wrong people are condemned to death, including overzealous and dishonest prosecutors, corrupt policemen, unreliable witnesses and expert witnesses, incompetent defense attorneys, bias judges, and jailhouse informants. We see why the new jewel of forensic science, DNA, is revealing more than innocence and guilt, opening a window into the criminal justice system that could touch off a revolution of reform. Ultimately we come to a remarkable conclusion: The possibility for error in our justice system is simply too great to allow the death penalty to stand as our ultimate punishment.

Death Penalty on Trial

Death Penalty on Trial PDF Author: Gary P. Gershman
Publisher: ABC-CLIO
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
This handbook sifts through the rhetoric, politics and emotion that characterize one of the most discussed, yet least understood issues in 21st century America. Placing the death penalty in a historical perspective, this introduction explains the legal theory that has perpetuated it.

The Death Penalty in the Nineties

The Death Penalty in the Nineties PDF Author: Welsh S. White
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 9780472064618
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
An up-to-date examination of legal changes and shifting attitudes surrounding capital punishment

Let the Lord Sort Them

Let the Lord Sort Them PDF Author: Maurice Chammah
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 1524760277
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • A deeply reported, searingly honest portrait of the death penalty in Texas—and what it tells us about crime and punishment in America “If you’re one of those people who despair that nothing changes, and dream that something can, this is a story of how it does.”—Anand Giridharadas, The New York Times Book Review WINNER OF THE J. ANTHONY LUKAS AWARD In 1972, the United States Supreme Court made a surprising ruling: the country’s death penalty system violated the Constitution. The backlash was swift, especially in Texas, where executions were considered part of the cultural fabric, and a dark history of lynching was masked by gauzy visions of a tough-on-crime frontier. When executions resumed, Texas quickly became the nationwide leader in carrying out the punishment. Then, amid a larger wave of criminal justice reform, came the death penalty’s decline, a trend so durable that even in Texas the punishment appears again close to extinction. In Let the Lord Sort Them, Maurice Chammah charts the rise and fall of capital punishment through the eyes of those it touched. We meet Elsa Alcala, the orphaned daughter of a Mexican American family who found her calling as a prosecutor in the nation’s death penalty capital, before becoming a judge on the state’s highest court. We meet Danalynn Recer, a lawyer who became obsessively devoted to unearthing the life stories of men who committed terrible crimes, and fought for mercy in courtrooms across the state. We meet death row prisoners—many of them once-famous figures like Henry Lee Lucas, Gary Graham, and Karla Faye Tucker—along with their families and the families of their victims. And we meet the executioners, who struggle openly with what society has asked them to do. In tracing these interconnected lives against the rise of mass incarceration in Texas and the country as a whole, Chammah explores what the persistence of the death penalty tells us about forgiveness and retribution, fairness and justice, history and myth. Written with intimacy and grace, Let the Lord Sort Them is the definitive portrait of a particularly American institution.

Death Penalty Cases

Death Penalty Cases PDF Author: Barry Latzer
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0123820251
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 457

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Book Description
Death Penalty Cases presents significant verbatim excerpts of death-penalty decisions from the United States Supreme Court. The first chapter introduces the topics discussed throughout the book. It also includes a detailed history of the death penalty in the United States. After this introduction, the remaining eighteen chapters are divided into five parts: Foundational Cases, Death-Eligible Crimes and Persons, The Death Penalty Trial, Post-Conviction Review, and Execution Issues. The first part, consisting of five chapters, talks about the mandatory death penalty, mitigating evidence and racial bias. The next part covers death-eligible crimes, such as rape and other crimes that do not involve homicide and murder. The middle part presents the trial process, from choosing the appropriate decision-makers through the sentencing decision. Followed by this is a chapter focusing on the aftermath of conviction, such as claims of innocence. The book concludes by exploring issues related to execution, such as not executing insane convicts. Finally, execution methods are presented. Provides the most recent case material--no need to supplement Topical organization of cases provides a more logical organization for structuring a course Co-authors with different perspectives on the death penalty assures complete impartiality of the material Provides the necessary historical background, a clear explanation of the current capital case process, and an impartial description of the controversies surrounding the death penalty Provides the latest statistics relevant to discussions on the death penalty Clearly explains the different ways in which the states process death penalty cases, with excerpts of the most relevant statutes

A Descending Spiral

A Descending Spiral PDF Author: Marc Bookman
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1620976595
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
Powerful, wry essays offering modern takes on a primitive practice, from one of our most widely read death penalty abolitionists As Ruth Bader Ginsburg has noted, people who are well represented at trial rarely get the death penalty. But as Marc Bookman shows in a dozen brilliant essays, the problems with capital punishment run far deeper than just bad representation. Exploring prosecutorial misconduct, racist judges and jurors, drunken lawyering, and executing the innocent and the mentally ill, these essays demonstrate that precious few people on trial for their lives get the fair trial the Constitution demands. Today, death penalty cases continue to capture the hearts, minds, and eblasts of progressives of all stripes—including the rich and famous (see Kim Kardashian’s advocacy)—but few people with firsthand knowledge of America’s “injustice system” have the literary chops to bring death penalty stories to life. Enter Marc Bookman. With a voice that is both literary and journalistic, the veteran capital defense lawyer and seven-time Best American Essays “notable” author exposes the dark absurdities and fatal inanities that undermine the logic of the death penalty wherever it still exists. In essays that cover seemingly “ordinary” capital cases over the last thirty years, Bookman shows how violent crime brings out our worst human instincts—revenge, fear, retribution, and prejudice. Combining these emotions with the criminal legal system’s weaknesses—purposely ineffective, arbitrary, or widely infected with racism and misogyny—is a recipe for injustice. Bookman has been charming and educating readers in the pages of The Atlantic, Mother Jones, and Slate for years. His wit and wisdom are now collected and preserved in A Descending Spiral.

Death Penalty on Trial

Death Penalty on Trial PDF Author: Bill Kurtis
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781422392362
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
Capital punishment is wrong. There can be no real justice in America until is abolished. Here, Kurtis revisits two murder scenes, studies the evidence, & explores the decisions made before & during trial, which sent two innocent men to death row. Here are the 8 reasons why the wrong people are condemned to death: overzealous & dishonest prosecutors, corrupt policemen, unreliable witnesses & expert witnesses, incompetent defense attorneys, biased judges, & jailhouse informants. Now, DNA is revealing more than innocence & guilt, it is opening a window into the criminal justice system that could touch off a revolution of reform. żThe possibility for error in our justice system is too great to allow the death penalty to stand as our ultimate punishment.ż

The Death Penalty

The Death Penalty PDF Author: Megan Manzano
Publisher: Greenhaven Publishing LLC
ISBN: 1534502130
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 122

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Book Description
Is capital punishment morally justified? Although the issue generates strong opinions, there are no easy answers when it comes to taking the life of a human being. Supporters of the death penalty believe it deters law-breaking and is the only punishment strong enough for horrific crimes such as child murder and genocide. Opponents argue that it violates human rights and point to its finality in the face of judicial system error and unfairness. This resource presents a fascinating progression of current viewpoints that reflect the many facets of the death penalty debate.