NCJ Number
120654
Date Published
1989
Length
383 pages
Annotation
The authors contend that the death penalty confuses the issue of law and order and offers revenge rather than security and that an execution, at best, is a symbolic gesture of government power and, at worst, premeditated murder.
Abstract
The book is based on interviews with individuals whose lives have been touched by violent death and on discussions with lawyers, social workers, church groups, and civil rights groups. The authors believe that, despite the high murder rate in the United States which totals more than 20,000 people a year, it is wrong that the world's most civilized country executes its own citizens in the name of law, order, and justice. They argue that if the death penalty were to be used to prevent further murders, it would be necessary to execute the over 30,000 convicted murderers currently behind bars. They further argue that debates over capital punishment often fail to recognize its possible international consequences. America's continued use of the death penalty leaves open the possibility that U.S. citizens abroad may fall victim to the discretionary use of the death penalty by another country. If the United States were to abolish the death penalty, it could take the moral high ground and condemn State killing under all circumstances, thereby giving added protection to its citizens worldwide. Research statistics indicate that the threat of execution does not deter murderers. Further, an argument voiced by those who seek to retain the death penalty is that relatives of victims feel cheated when a loved one has been murdered and the perpetrator receives a custodial sentence. In practice, however, very few murderers are executed and the lives of those affected by murder have been devalued by a system that merely leaves another set of bereaved relatives. 31 references.