The Killing State : Capital Punishment in Law, Politics, and Culture

over 7,000 People Have Been Legally Executed In The United States This Century, And Over 3,000 Men And Women Now Sit On Death Rows Across The Country Awaiting The Same Fate. Since The Supreme Court Temporarily Halted Capital Punishment In 1972, The Death Penalty Has Returned With A Vengeance. Today There Appears To Be A Widespread Public Consensus In Favor Of Capital Punishment And Considerable Political Momentum To Ensure That Those Sentenced To Death Are Actually Executed. Yet The Death Penalty Remains Troubling And Controversial For Many People. the Killing State: Capital Punishment in Law, Politics, And Culture Explores What It Means When The State Kills And What It Means For Citizens To Live In A Killing State, Helping Us Understand Why America Clings Tenaciously To A Punishment That Has Been Abandoned By Every Other Industrialized Democracy. edited By A Leading Figure In Socio-legal Studies, This Book Brings Together The Work Of Ten Scholars, Including Recognized Experts On The Death Penalty And Noted Scholars Writing About It For The First Time. Focused More On Theory Than On Advocacy, These Bracing Essays Open Up New Questions For Scholars And Citizens: What Is The Relationship Of The Death Penalty To The Maintenance Of Political Sovereignty? In What Ways Does The Death Penalty Resemble And Enable Other Forms Of Law's Violence? How Is Capital Punishment Portrayed In Popular Culture? How Does Capital Punishment Express The New Politics Of Crime, Organize Positions In The Culture War, And Affect The Structure Of American Values? This Book Is A Timely Examination Of A Vitally Important Topic: The Impact Of State Killing On Our Law, Our Politics, And Our Cultural Life. The Killing State: Capital Punishment In Law, Politics, And Culture Explores What It Means When The State Kills And What It Means For Citizens To Live In A Killing State, Helping Us Understand Why America Clings Tenaciously To A Punishment That Has Been Abandoned By Every Other Industrialized Democracy. Edited By A Leading Figure In Socio-legal Studies, This Book Brings Together The Work Of Ten Scholars, Including Recognized Experts On The Death Penalty And Noted Scholars Writing About It For The First Time.--jacket. Capital Punishment As A Fact Of Legal, Political, And Cultural Life : An Introduction / Austin Sarat -- After The Terror : Mortality, Equality, Fraternity / Anne Norton -- Abolishing The Death Penalty Even For The Worst Murderers / Hugo Adam Bedau -- A Juridical Frankenstein, Or Death In The Hands Of The State / Julie M. Taylor -- Tokens Of Our Esteem : Aggravating Factors In The Era Of Deregulated Death Penalties / Jonathan Simon And Christina Spaulding -- Always More To Do : Capital Punishment And The (de)composition Of Law / Peter Fitzpatrick -- The Executioner's Dissonant Song : On Capital Punishment And American Legal Values / Franklin E. Zimring -- Selling A Quick Fix For Boot Hill : The Myth Of Justice Delayed In Death Cases / Anthony G. Amsterdam -- The Will, Capital Punishment, And Cultural War / William E. Connolly -- Beyond Intention : A Critique Of The Normal Criminal Agency, Responsibility, And Punishment In American Death Penalty Jurisprudence / Jennifer L. Culbert -- The Cultural Life Of Capital Punishment : Responsibility And Representation In Dead Man Walking And Last Dance / Austin Sarat. Edited By Austin Sarat. This Book Emerged Out Of A Conference Entitled Capital Punishment In Law And Culture Held At Amherst College In April, 1997--p. Viii. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Over 7,000 people have been legally executed in the United States this century, and over 3,000 men and women now sit on death rows across the country awaiting the same fate. Since the Supreme Court temporarily halted capital punishment in 1972, the death penalty has returned with a vengeance. Today, there appears to be a widespread public consensus in favor of capital punishment and considerable political momentum to ensure that those sentenced to death are actually executed. Yet, the death penalty remains troubling and controversial for many people. The "Killing State: Capital Punishment in Law, Politics, and Culture" explores what it means when the state kills and what it means for citizens to live in a killing state, helping us understand why America clings tenaciously to a punishment that has been abandoned by every other industrialized democracy. Edited by a leading figure in socio-legal studies, this book brings together the work of ten scholars, including recognized experts on the death penalty and noted scholars writing about it for the first time.; Focused more on theory than on advocacy, these bracing essays open up new questions for scholars and citizens: what is the relationship of the death penalty to the maintenance of political sovereignty? In what ways does the death penalty resemble and enable other forms of law's violence? How is capital punishment portrayed in popular culture? How does capital punishment express the new politics of crime, organize positions in the "culture war," and affect the structure of American values? This book is a timely examination of a vitally important topic: the impact of state killing on our law, our politics, and our cultural life Although the US Supreme Court temporarily halted capital punishment in the early 1970s, it has since returned with a vengeance. Today Americans live in a "killing state" in which the death penalty has become an important part of criminal justice policy and sometimes a major factor in electoral politics. Bringing together the work of several prominent scholars. The Killing State helps explain why this country clings tenaciously to capital punishment long after other democratic nations have abandoned it. The book signals the emergence of a new way of thinking about state killing that moves beyond abstract moral argument and narrow policy debate to assess its impact upon our regal system, its powerful symbolic appeal, and its place in contemporary "culture wars".Featuring writings by such distinguished contributors as Hugh Adam Bedau, Jonathan Simon, and Franklin Zimring, among many others, this collection of essays is a significant contribution to the literature on capital punishment in the United States. Collecting work by several notable scholars, this book explains why the US still clings to capital punishment long after other democratic nations have abandoned it. It also exhibits a new way of thinking about state killing that goes beyond abstract moral argument and narrow policy debate to assess its impact on our legal system, its powerful symbolic appeal, and its place in today's ""culture wars."" In 17th century England, a sex scandal - in which the second Earl of Castlehaven was executed for crimes so horrible that "a Christian man ought scarce to name them"--Threatened the very basis of aristocratic hierarchy. The author analyzes the case and its sexual and social background Today Americans live in a killing state in which violence is met with violence, and the measure of our sovereignty as a people is found in our ability both to make laws carrying the penalty of death and to translate those laws into a calm, bureaucratic bloodletting. Capital punishment, in this historical moment, in this political space, is visited by the powerful upon the dominated, by the state upon the subject.