Description
Book SynopsisThis unique book examines how U.S. domestic policy regarding the death penalty has been influenced by international pressures, in particular, by foreign nations and international organizations. International pressure has mounted against America's use of the death penalty, straining diplomatic ties. U.S. policies that endorse the execution of juveniles, the mentally handicapped, and disadvantaged foreign nationals have been recognized by allied nations and international organizations as human rights abuses and violation of international law. Further, organizations such as the United Nations and Amnesty International have issued scathing reports revealing racial bias and fundamental procedural flaws in almost every phase of the judicial process in capital cases. International pressures directed at governmental entities, in particular specific states such as Texas, can have a profound impact on governmental operational efficiency and public opinion and effectively render capital punishmen
Trade ReviewKendall and Siracusa’s study is a unique contribution to our understanding of death penalty policy in the United States and, more specifically, the role of international actors in influencing that policy. . . . One can sense the respective expertise and backgrounds of Kendall and Siracusa in the text. . . . [T]he series of detailed case studies presented by the authors gives the reader concrete and detailed insight into the influence of specific international actors at a variety of levels of the judicial and policy processes. Such details are the greatest strength of the study. Taken together, they offer fascinating and sometimes surprising insight into the sheer number and varied nature of international interventions into U.S. death penalty policy and practice, in defense of both individuals and broader laws, norms and principles. Such interventions will be of great interest not only to scholars of death penalty policy and practice, but also to scholars of international relations and U.S. foreign policy more broadly. * Australian Journal of Human Rights *
Historians have paid little attention to how the U.S.’s death penalty policy is linked to the nation’s diplomacy. Multiple issues arise when a foreign national is entangled in the American legal process or in the diplomatic battle over extradition. Since most other nations have outlawed the death penalty, Washington often finds it necessary to take the death penalty off the table when seeking extradition of a foreign national. This book enjoys exceptionally thorough research, visits all aspects of the issue in well-organized chapters, and benefits immensely from the partnership of an accomplished scholar of American criminal and international law and a distinguished historian of American foreign affairs. -- Richard Dean Burns
At a time when United States death penalty policy is increasingly out of step with global opinion and international law, Kendall and Siracusa have produced an inspired study of the foreign policy dimensions of death penalty policy. The book not only reveals new dimensions of death penalty policy and politics, but is a groundbreaking study of the global-local nexus. It’s conclusions regarding institutional responsiveness to specific forms of foreign intervention and influence have a significance that goes well beyond this specific policy issue. -- Jason Flanagan, Assistant Professor International Studies, University of Canberra, Australia
Table of Contents1. Introduction 2. International Influence on U. S. Judicial Policymaking 3. Public Opinion, the Death Penalty and International Influence 4. Foreign Actors, U. S. Bureaus and Death Penalty Policies 5. Foreign Consul Influence on Death Penalty Policies 6. U. S. Death Penalty Policy and International Litigation 7. Extradition and U. S Death Penalty Policies 8. Conclusion Selected Bibliography
