Machinery of Death

The Reality of America's Death Penalty Regime
Erscheinungsjahr 2002
ISBN: 978-0-415-93267-7
Verlag: Taylor & Francis

Buch, Englisch, 288 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 503 g

Thurgood Marshall said that the more people learned about the death penalty, the more they'd be against it. It's racist, unfair to poor people and the mentally retarded, and far too often ends horribly in the state sanctioned murder of innocents. And no one, no matter how much they're paid, likes to be involved with death itself. In Machinery of Death, death penalty lawyer David R. Dow and writer Mark Dow bring together diverse views from lawyers, wardens, victims' families, executioners and inmates to show how America's death penalty system actually works, and what it does to those who come in contact with it. Arguing that the more we know about the system the more we'll oppose it, the book offers harrowing story after story of racist juries and unjust rulings, of backward judges and public defenders, and of families facing the ultimate decision. Together, these intimate and shocking writings show that in practice, the death penalty is impossible to administer in a fair, workable manner. This is the first death penalty book to look beyond innocence and morality, arguing against executing even the guilty people. Machinery of Death is a crucial link in the fiery public debate over the meaning and usefulness of this deeply flawed system.

Zielgruppe

Professional Practice & Development

Autoren/Hrsg.

Dow, David R

Dow, Mark

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Kriminalsoziologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Foreword Slouching Towards Abolition christopher Hitchens Introduction The Problem of Innocence David R. Dow 1. Part One: Reality of the Regime 1. How the Death Penalty Works David R. Dow 2. The Execution of Ivor Ray Stanley David R. Dow Part Two: Legacies of Lynching 3. Discrimination, Death and Denial: Race and the Death Penalty Stephen B. Bright 4. The Judge as Lynch Mob Ken Silverstein 5. From My Vantage-Disadvantage Point: Samuel B. Johnson in the New South Mark Dow Part Three: Inevitability and Innocence 6. Jousting with the Juggernaut Andrew Hammel 7. The Politics of Finality and the Execution of the Innocent: The Case of Gary Graham Dick Burr and Mandy Welch 8. Innocence Lost Bob Burtman 9. Chance and the Exoneration on Anthony Porter Shawn Armbrust Part Four: Inside the Walls 10. The Stopping Point: Interview with a Tie-Down Officer Stacy Abramson and David Isay 11. The Line Between Us and Them: Interview with a Warden Mark Dow 12. The Death Penalty as Disgrace: How One Man's Life and Death Reveal the Failings of Our Society Phyllis Crocker 13. An Eagle Soars: The Legacy of Mr. Smile Cecile C. Guin 14. In Memory of Anthony Lee Jones Sarah Ottinger 15. Representing Robert Sawyer sarah Ottinger Part Five: Towards Abolition 16. Killing the Death Penalty with Kindness Clive Stafford-Smith 17. Speaking Out Against the Execution of McVeigh Bud Welch 18. Reflections on Justice, Survival and Healing Renny Cushing

Über Autor(innen)

David R. Dow is George Butler Research Professor of Law at the University of Houston. Since 1988, he has represented more than twenty-five death row inmates. Mark Dow is a Brooklyn based freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Progressive, The Miami Herald, The Boston Herald, and The Texas Observer.Christopher Hitchens is a best-selling author and a regular columnist for The Nation and Vanity Fair.