Product Description: In what has been called the Dred Scott decision of our times, the US Supreme Court found in McCleskey v. Kemp that evidence of overwhelming racial disparities in the capital punishment process could not be admitted in individual capital cases―in effect institutionalizing a racially unequal system of criminal justice...read more

Product Description: Does justice exist for Blacks in America? This comprehensive compilation of essays documents the historical and contemporary impact of the law and criminal justice system on people of African ancestry in the United States.• 120 A–Z entries on race and criminal justice and famous or infamous African American crime perpetrators or victims• Contributions from more than 50 distinguished scholars from many criminal justice/criminology academic programs across the country• An index of key persons, events, and legislatio...read more

Product Description: Urbina's consideration of capital punishment seeks to examine racial and ethnic differences, stressing how Latinos' and Latinas' experiences are distinct from those of Caucasians and African Americans. In considering Latinos he focuses on the problem of lack of data and addresses it through several means...read more

Product Description: The role of capital punishment in America has been criticised by those for and against the death penalty, by the judiciary, academics, the media and by prison personnel. This book demonstrates that it is the inconsistent and often incoherent jurisprudence of the United States Supreme Court which accounts for a system so lacking in public confidence...read more

Product Description: Flexon presents an interdisciplinary perspective to the problem of racial disparities in capital case outcomes. In doing so, research from social and cognitive psychology concerning stereotypes and attitude influence were bridged with other empirical findings concerning racial disparities in capital sentencing...read more

How do we select those who will be subject to capital punishment? How do we identify the worst of the worst and decide who among them can and should be executed? Today these questions are more pressing than they have ever been. As the number of people sentenced to death and executed declines in the United States, those who are executed stand out as distinctive kinds of criminals, distinctive kinds of people. Does a death sentence affirm or deny their humanity? Is such a sentence an act of revenge or a carefully calculated act of justice?These are more than questions for policy and law. They are one way of getting a handle on how our culture understands what makes life worth preserving and of delving into its complex calculus of punishment and retribution. Who Deserves to Die? brings together a distinguished group of death penalty scholars to assess the forms of legal subjectivity and legal community that are supported and constructed by the doctrines and practices of punishment by death in the United States. They help us understand what we do and who we become when we decide who is fit for execution.In addition to the editors, contributors include Vanessa Barker, Thomas L. Dumm, Daniel Markel, Linda Meyer, Ruth A. Miller, Ravit Reichman, Susan R. Schmeiser, Mateo Taussig-Rubbo, and Robert Weisberg.

Urbina's study proposes a new theory of death penalty sentencing that seeks to explain how, when, and why racial and ethnic minority defendants are more likely to experience differential treatment. Urbina reviews historical relationships between African Americans, Caucasians, and Latinos/Hispanics, proposes the four-threat theory of death sentence outcomes; tests for racial and ethnic effects, and examines the death penalty by the totality of its outcomes. Urbina finds support for orthodox theories of punishment, and partial support for the four-threat theory. This theory suggests that racial and ethnic minorities are not treated the same by the criminal justice system. He also finds that discrimination is not a phenomenon of the past or restricted to commutations and executions; the death penalty must be analyzed by the totality of its outcomes.

Product Description: Since 1976, over forty percent of prisoners executed in American jails have been African American or Hispanic. This trend shows little evidence of diminishing, and follows a larger pattern of the violent criminalization of African American populations that has marked the country's history of punishment...read more

Presents a collection of essays about capital punishment from diverse viewpoints which discuss the ethics, the fairness, and the effectiveness of this form of punishment.

Product Description: "What is most extraordinary about Ben Fleury-Steiner's book is that it seeks to shed light on the 'black box' of capital jury deliberations. Based on a remarkable social science survey of persons who served on capital juries, this volume illuminates the workings of the most closely guarded secret in the criminal justice system...read more

A passionate argument against capital punishment argues that the death penalty is morally wrong, an ineffective deterrent, and an instrument of a justice system exemplified by systematic legal error and widespread racial bias. Reprint. 17,500 first printing.

The United States has the highest incarceration and execution rate in the industrialized world. Due to bias in policing and sentencing, seventy percent of the nearly two million people incarcerated in U.S. prisons and immigration detention centers are people of color. Statistics like these, and the often unsafe conditions under which people are imprisoned, make an analysis of incarceration urgent and timely. Using a broad multicultural approach, States of Confinement uncovers the political, social, and economic biases in our policing and punishment systems. The distinguished authors of this collection - such as Angela Y. Davis, Manning Marable, Gary Marx, Robert Meeropol (the son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg), Julie Su (an attorney for immigrants' rights), and Judi Bari (a founder of Earthfirst!) - use their diverse experiences and expertise to discuss troubling abuses of police powers in our society. The issues they expose include racial profiling and sentencing disparities that target African Americans and Latinos, the sexual exploitation of women in prison and police custody, racist and homophobic violence, the policing of Asian Americans and Arabs, the adverse conditions of HIV-positive prisoners, and the use of the Grand Jury and police to undermine political activity. These twenty-seven cogent and accessible essays will appeal to students and educators, as well as anyone concerned about the erosion of democracy and equality in this era of increasing incarceration and police powers. (view table of contents)

Provides evidence of discrimination in the administration of capital punishment

Product Description: Russell tests the U.S. Supreme Court's assumption that the procedure used to select jurors who impose the death penalty does not inject racial bias into the jury. In Georgia, those who supported the death penalty and were placed on juries were more likely to sentence black defendants to death...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Book by Gross, Samuel R., Mauro, Robert

Product Description: Hardcover very slight shelf wear and only one page with three highlighting line.

Examines the fairness of the use of the death penalty and analyzes the effects of recent laws on the arbitrariness of capital punishment