Synopses & Reviews
The death penalty is one of the most hotly contested issues in America today. Evidence continues to mount that many innocent people have been executed or are currently living on death row, and that minority groups and the poor suffer from a shoddy public defense system and discriminatory application of capital charges. Meanwhile, the myth of deterrence has been revealed to be false, and an increasing number of Americans are beginning to question their support for capital punishment.
Legal Lynching offers a succinct, accessible introduction to the debate over the death penalty's history and future, exposing a chilling frequency of legal error, systemic racial and economic discrimination, and pervasive government misconduct. This is an essential book for readers across the political spectrum who wish to cut through the common myths and assumptions about the efficacy and morality of state-sanctioned killing.
Synopsis
From eminent civil rights leaders Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., and Rep. Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., and Bruce Shapiro, The Nation's criminal justice correspondent, comes a major contribution to the debate over capital punishment.
Tracing the death penalty from its historical roots to its current application, Legal Lynching exposes chilling accounts of mangled justice, frequent legal error, racial and economic discrimination, and government misconduct. The authors challenge legal, social, and moral misconceptions to deliver an invaluable, clearly reasoned call for a moratorium on state-sanctioned killing until the system can be fixed.
About the Author
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. ran for president of the United States in 1984 and 1988. He is the founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
Representative Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. has represented the Second District of Illinois in the United States Congress since 1995.
Bruce Shapiro is a contributing editor at The Nation and a national correspondent for Salon.com. He teaches at Yale University.