Description
Book SynopsisUncovers the ways that race influences capital punishment, and attempts to situate the linkage between race and the death penalty in the history of America, in particular the history of lynching. This book looks at how the death penalty gives meaning to race, as well as why the racialization of the death penalty is uniquely American.
Trade ReviewOgeltree and Sarat combine the most severe criminal punishment with the bugaboo of racial class and prejudice in their book From Lynch Mobs to the Killing State. The professors astutely note that the death penalty is often used as a club to keep poor and desperate minorities in line in the larger white society. * Black Issues Book Review *
The authors give the nation an unflinching view of the shameful influence of racism in death penalty cases. This is a must read for anyone who cares about fairness in application of the death penalty and respect for the rule of law in our modern society. -- Senator Edward M. Kennedy
Expertly dissects the racist underpinnings of capital punishment while pushing some intellectual boundaries. * International Socialist Review *
Professors Charles Ogletree and Austin Sarat gather an impressive lineup between racial politics in America and the killing of African-Americans. * Harvard Law Review *
An elegant compendium of essays written by sociologists, historians, criminologists, and lawyers. The essays starkly reveal how this country’s death penalty has its roots in lynchings, and how it operates to sustain a racist agenda. * The Federal Lawyer *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., and Austin SaratPart I : The Meaning and Signi?cance of Race in the Culture of Capital Punishment1 Capital Punishment as Legal Lynching? Timothy V. Kaufman-Osborn2 Making Race Matter in Death Matters Charles J. Ogletree, Jr.3 Traces of Slavery: Race and the Death Penalty in Historical Perspective Stuart BannerPart II : Race and the Death Penalty Process4 The Role of Victim's Race and Geography on Death Sentencing: Some Recent Data from Illinois Michael L. Radelet and Glenn L. Pierce5 Death in "Whiteface": Modern Race Minstrels, O?cial Lynching, and the Culture of American Apartheid Benjamin Fleury-Steiner6 Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Life-and-Death Decision Making: Lessons from Laypersons in an Experimental Setting Mona LynchPart III : Race, Politics, and the Death Penalty7 Discrimination, Death, and Denial: The Tolerance of Racial Discrimination in In?iction of the Death Penalty Stephen B. Bright8 The Rhetoric of Race in the "New Abolitionism" Austin SaratContributors Index
