Title: Who owns death? : capital punishment, the American conscience, and the end of executions /
Authors: Lifton, Robert Jay, 1926-; Mitchell, Greg, 1947-
Publisher: Perennial,
Year: 2002
Subjects: Capital punishment United States
Abstract: Robert Jay Lifton and Greg Mitchell investigate the mindsets of individuals involved in the death penalty -- including prison wardens, prosecutors, jurors, religious figures, governors, judges, and relatives of murder victims -- and offer a textured look at a system that perpetuates the longstanding American habit of violence. This meticulously researched volume explores the history of the death penalty in the United States, from hanging to lethal injection, and considers what this search for more "humane" executions reveals about us as individuals and as a society, and what the future of the death penalty holds for us all.
Contents: The pope's travel plans: three states, three views of the death penalty -- Executions in America: trends and beginnings -- Methods of execution: seeking a "humane" end, from noose to needle -- Wardens and guards, chaplains and doctors -- Prosecutors and governors -- Jurors and judges -- Witnessing -- Murder victim's families -- Public opinion, private doubts -- The end of executions.