Waubonsee Community College

The contradictions of American capital punishment, Franklin E. Zimring

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 243-249) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

The contradictions of American capital punishment

bibliography

50334054

Franklin E. Zimring

Studies in crime and public policy

Franklin E. Zimring reveals that the seemingly insoluble turmoil surrounding the death penalty reflects a long-standing division in American values, one that he predicts will soon bring about the end of capital punishment in our country. On one hand, execution would seem to violate our nation's highest legal principles of fairness and due process. It sets us increasingly apart from our allies and indeed is regarded by European nations as a barbaric and particularly egregious form of American exceptionalism. On the other hand, the death penalty represents a deeply held American belief in violent social justice that sees the hangman as an agent of local control and safeguard of community values. Zimring uncovers the most troubling symptom of this attraction to vigilante justice in the lynch mob. He links modern execution rates to the presence of a vigilante tradition in certain states of the Union, and demonstrates that recent conflicts over appeals procedures and the dangers of executing innocent persons are a repetition of a conflict in values that has been evident for more than a century. It is the vigilante legacy, Zimring argues, that constitutes both the distinctive appeal of the death penalty in the United States and one of the most compelling reasons for abolishing it. - Publisher

1. Divergent trends. The peculiar present of American capital punishment -- More than a trend : abolition in the developed nations -- The symbolic transformation of American capital punishment -- 2. Explaining the American difference. Federalism and its discontents -- The vigilante tradition and modern executions -- The consequences of contradictory values -- 3. Capital punishment in the American future. The no-win 1990s -- The beginning of the end -- Appendix A. Statistical materials on lynchings and executions -- Appendix B. Reported frequencies of national death penalty policy, 1980 to 2001 -- Appendix C. Death row and execution statistics -- Appendix D. New survey analysis materials -- Appendix E. Justified killings by citizens and police, by state -- Appendix F. Review of death penalty exoneration data from the Death Penalty Information Center