Capital Punishment

Theory and Practice of the Ultimate Penalty

Virginia Leigh Hatch and Anthony Walsh

Capital Punishment

Theory and Practice of the Ultimate Penalty

Virginia Leigh Hatch and Anthony Walsh

Description

Capital Punishment: Theory and Practice of the Ultimate Penalty is a fair, balanced, and accessible introduction to the greatest moral issue facing the American criminal justice system today. Opening with a unique chapter that outlines the philosophical and theoretical explanations for punishment and its relevance to the death-penalty debate, the authors then explore the wide array of topics in the field.

The text covers the history of the death penalty in the U.S. from colonial times to the present day; the relevant landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases from Furman v. Georgia (1972) onwards; the history of public opinion and how it shapes the debate on capital punishment; the history of U.S. execution methods; deterrence; racial disparity in the application of the death penalty; wrongful convictions; the costs associated with capital punishment; and federal, military, and international death penalties.

FEATURES

Incorporates "Perspectives from the Field" boxes in most chapters that add valuable insights from people who have been personally involved in capital cases, including a judge, a prosecutor, a neuroscientist, a former death-row resident, and other key practitioners in the field

Explores the process by which "hard" science (DNA) is used to address exoneration and mitigation, in terms that are understandable to students

Includes an in-depth discussion of why we punish wrongdoers, examining why our urge to punish is so strong

An open-access Companion Website provides chapter outlines, chapter learning objectives, sample quiz/exam questions, and links to helpful websites

Capital Punishment

Theory and Practice of the Ultimate Penalty

Virginia Leigh Hatch and Anthony Walsh

Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Why Do We Punish: The Origin and Purpose of Punishment
The Evolutionary Origins of Punishment
Religion, Emotion, Social Order, and Punishment
The Co-Evolution of Punishment and Social Cooperation
Second- and Third-Party Punishment
From Primitive Vengeance to Modern Law
The Assumptions about Human Nature and Punishment Justifications
Free Will, Determinism, and the Law
Punishment Justifications
--Deterrence
--Incapacitation
--Rehabilitation
--Reintegration
--Retribution
Kantian Retribution: The Major Justification of Capital Punishment
--Retribution and Emotion
--Reconciliation and Reintegration
Chapter 2. History of the Death Penalty in the United States: Past and Present
Capital Punishment in Antiquity
The History of the Death Penalty in America
Pre-Modern Era/Pre-Furman
--Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
--Religion
--Deterrence
--Retribution
--Nineteenth Century/Abolitionist Movement
--Twentieth Century/Pre-Furman
--Furman v. Georgia (1972)
Modern Era/Post-Furman
Chapter 3. The Foundational Cases: Furman to Stanford
Furman v. Georgia (1972)
Gregg v. Georgia (1976)
Coker v. Georgia (1977)
Lockett v. Ohio (1978)
McClesky v. Kemp (1987)
Stanford v. Kentucky (1989)
Chapter 4. The Foundational Cases: Atkins to Baze
Reez (2008)
Chapter 5. The Death Penalty and Public Opinion
The Ups and Downs of Public Opinion
The Ways that Public Support Maintains the Death Penalty
Attitudinal Model and Political Adjustment Hypothesis
Expression of Public Opinion
The Marshall Hypothesis
Global Perspectives on the Death Penalty
Chapter 6. Methods of Execution
The Evolution of Execution Methods
Hanging
Electrocution
Gas Chamber
Firing Squad
Lethal Injection
--Three- vs. One-Drug Injection
--Drug Availability
Executioners
Last Words and Last Meals
Chapter 7. Deterrence and the Death Penalty
The Assumptions of Deterrence Theory
Specific and General Deterrence
Three Principles of Punishment
The Death Penalty/Deterrence Debate
Deterrence: Criminologists and Sociologists versus Economists
Does Capital Punishment Have a Brutalizing Effect?
The Inconclusive Conclusion of the Committee on Deterrence and the Death Penalty
What Is Needed to Demonstrate if the Death Penalty Is a Deterrent?
The Opinions of Criminologists and Police Chiefs on the Death Penalty
Pascal's Wager: A "Last Ditch" Effort
Chapter 8. The Death Penalty and Special Populations: Race, Gender, Age, and Mental Capacity
Race and the Death Penalty
Racial Disproportionality in Capital Punishment
The Issue of Victim's Race
Dueling Statisticians Redux
Juveniles and the Death Penalty
Women and the Death Penalty
Women Executed Since 1976
The Chivalry Explanation in Female Capital Cases
The Evil Woman Explanation in Female Capital Cases
The Death Penalty and Mental Illness
Mental Disability
Mental Illness
Chapter 9. Modern Science and the Death Penalty
Exoneration and Mitigation
The Innocence Revolution
Science, Agency, Genes and Culpability
What Are Genes and How Do They Make Us Different?
DNA "Fingerprinting" in a Nutshell
Brain Imaging in a Nutshell
Brain Imaging and the Abolition of the Juvenile Death Penalty
Some Problems with DNA Testing to Consider
Some Problems with fMRI to Consider
Chapter 10. Wrongful Convictions and Death Penalty
Exoneration and Factual Innocence
Due Process versus Crime Control Models of Criminal Justice Systems
The Blackstone Ratio
The "Big Six"
Eyewitness Misidentification
False Confessions
Informant/Snitch Testimony
Bad Science
Ineffective Defense Counsel
Government Misconduct
Post-Exoneration Compensation
Chapter 11. The Financial Burden of the Death Penalty and Other Collateral Costs
Death Penalty: A Yellow Brick Road
The Timothy McVeigh Federal Murder Trial
The Financial Burden of the Death Penalty
The Financial Cost of Court Proceedings: Death Penalty versus LWOP
Court Costs
Expert Witnesses
Habeas Corpus Petition versus Direct Appeal
Introduction of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act
All Bark and Little Bite
Collateral Costs: Victims' and Defendants' Families
Chapter 12. The Death Penalty: The Federal, Military, and International Perspective
Why Does the United States Retain the Death Penalty?
Federal Death Penalty
The U.S. Military Death Penalty
The U.S. Military's Current Death Row Population
The Death Penalty on the International Stage
The Death Penalty in the Communist World
People's Republic of China
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea)
The Death Penalty in the Islamic World
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Islamic Republic of Iran
Republic of Iraq
Epilogue
Libby the Liberal and Conrad the Conservative Debate the Death Penalty
Appendix
Index

Capital Punishment

Theory and Practice of the Ultimate Penalty

Virginia Leigh Hatch and Anthony Walsh

Author Information

Virginia Leigh Hatch is Lecturer in Criminal Justice at Boise State University, where she teaches a variety of classes including Law and Justice and The Death Penalty in America.

Anthony Walsh is Professor of Criminal Justice at Boise State University, where he teaches criminology, law, and statistics.

Capital Punishment

Theory and Practice of the Ultimate Penalty

Virginia Leigh Hatch and Anthony Walsh

Reviews and Awards

"Capital Punishment provides the most thorough overview and evaluation of the death penalty available today. Rather than focusing on advocacy, the authors emphasize science--what do we really know about the death penalty? Everyone has an opinion about it, but Hatch and Walsh have the facts. They are fair and balanced in their examination of the greatest moral issue facing the criminal justice system today. Students and scholars of the death penalty will be well served by this outstanding text."--Craig Hemmens, Washington State University

"Capital Punishment is a well-written, up-to-date text that is accessible to an undergraduate audience. It is innovative in bringing in information on modern scientific methods relevant to the death penalty and also in zeroing in on nations that use capital punishment the most."--Kevin Minor, Eastern Kentucky University