Synopses & Reviews
Why do people commit crimes? How do we control crime? The theories that criminologists use to answer these questions are built on a number of underlying assumptions, including those about the nature of crime, free will, human nature, and society. These assumptions have a fundamental impact on criminology: they largely determine what criminologists study, the causes they examine, the control strategies they recommend, and how they test their theories and evaluate crime-control strategies.
In Toward a Unified Criminology, noted criminologist Robert Agnew provides a critical examination of these assumptions, drawing on a range of research and perspectives to argue that these assumptions are too restrictive, unduly limiting the types of "crime" that are explored, the causes that are considered, and the methods of data collection and analysis that are employed. As such, they undermine our ability to explain and control crime. Agnew then proposes an alternative set of assumptions, drawing heavily on both mainstream and critical theories of criminology, with the goal of laying the foundation for a unified criminology that is better able to explain a broader range of crimes.
Review
“A thoughtful discussion that is timely, well written, and deeply relevant to current public policy and law.”
-Library Journal,
Review
“In this era of national rethinking of the death penalty, The Road to Abolition? makes a singular contribution. From start to finish this is a compelling book. Bringing together a series of insightful essays by distinguished scholars, Ogletree and Sarat help us take stock of the progress weve made and what remains to be done to end capital punishment. For death penalty scholars as well as activists and policy makers this is a must read.”
-Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ,author of Dead Man Walking
Review
"The essays, organized into three sections, are as compelling in their analyses as those in the first two collections." "Highly recommended." "
The Road to Abolition is a collection of work by some of the best researchers on capital punishment assessing the prospects of a future without the death penalty"
“A thoughtful discussion that is timely, well written, and deeply relevant to current public policy and law.”
“In this era of national rethinking of the death penalty, The Road to Abolition? makes a singular contribution. From start to finish this is a compelling book. Bringing together a series of insightful essays by distinguished scholars, Ogletree and Sarat help us take stock of the progress we’ve made and what remains to be done to end capital punishment. For death penalty scholars as well as activists and policy makers this is a must read.”
“The Road to Abolition? may well become a history of the future, bringing together an impressive group of scholars who analyze the myriad social, legal, and political conditions that suggest that the end of the death penalty in America may be near. This collection of essays is provocative, creative, and deeply insightful, linking the problem of capital punishment to a series of larger debates of our time. It is a must read for anyone interested in the death penalty’s past, present, and future in the United States.”
Review
"The Road to Abolition is a collection of work by some of the best researchers on capital punishment assessing the prospects of a future without the death penalty"-Aaron Lorenz,H-Humanitarian Rights
Review
"Road to Abolition? makes a convincing case that there is a spreading consensus, both internationally and on our own soil, that the death penalty is an outmoded and barbaric practice."-Ben Pesta,The Daily Journal Corporation
Review
“A thoughtful discussion that is timely, well written, and deeply relevant to current public policy and law.”
-Library Journal,
Review
“In this era of national rethinking of the death penalty, The Road to Abolition? makes a singular contribution. From start to finish this is a compelling book. Bringing together a series of insightful essays by distinguished scholars, Ogletree and Sarat help us take stock of the progress weve made and what remains to be done to end capital punishment. For death penalty scholars as well as activists and policy makers this is a must read.”
-Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ,author of Dead Man Walking
Review
“The Road to Abolition? may well become a history of the future, bringing together an impressive group of scholars who analyze the myriad social, legal, and political conditions that suggest that the end of the death penalty in America may be near. This collection of essays is provocative, creative, and deeply insightful, linking the problem of capital punishment to a series of larger debates of our time. It is a must read for anyone interested in the death penaltys past, present, and future in the United States.”
-Mona Lynch,author of Sunbelt Justice: Arizona and the Transformation of American Punishment
Synopsis
At the start of the twenty-first century, America is in the midst of a profound national reconsideration of the death penalty. There has been a dramatic decline in the number of people being sentenced to death as well as executed, exonerations have become common, and the number of states abolishing the death penalty is on the rise. The essays featured in
The Road to Abolition? track this shift in attitudes toward capital punishment, and consider whether or not the death penalty will ever be abolished in America.
The interdisciplinary group of experts gathered by Charles J. Ogletree Jr., and Austin Sarat ask and attempt to answer the hard questions that need to be addressed if the death penalty is to be abolished. Will the death penalty end only to be replaced with life in prison without parole? Will life without the possibility of parole become, in essence, the new death penalty? For abolitionists, might that be a pyrrhic victory? The contributors discuss how the death penalty might be abolished, with particular emphasis on the current debate over lethal injection as a case study on why and how the elimination of certain forms of execution might provide a model for the larger abolition of the death penalty.
About the Author
Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. is the Jesse Climenko Professor of Law and Executive Director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School. Previous collaborations for NYU Press with Austin Sarat include
From Lynch Mobs to the Killing State: Race and the Death Penalty in America (2006),
When Law Fails: Making Sense of Miscarraiges of Justice (2009), and
The Road to Abolition? The Future of Capital Punishment in the United States (2010).
Austin Sarat is William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College. Previous collaborations for NYU Press with Charles J. Ogletree include From Lynch Mobs to the Killing State: Race and the Death Penalty in America (2006), When Law Fails: Making Sense of Miscarraiges of Justice (2009), and The Road to Abolition? The Future of Capital Punishment in the United States (2010).