The Decline of the Death Penalty and the Discovery of Innocence

by Frank R. Baumgartner , Suzanna L. De Boef , Amber E. Boydstun

• ISBN13: 9780521715249
• ISBN10: 0521715245
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-01-07
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Since 1996, death sentences in America have declined more than 60 percent, reversing a generation-long trend toward greater acceptance of capital punishment. In theory, most Americans continue to support the death penalty. But it is no longer seen as a theoretical matter. Prosecutors, judges, and juries across the country have moved in large numbers to give much greater credence to the possibility of mistakes -- mistakes that in this arena are potentially fatal. The discovery of innocence, documented here through painstaking analyses of media coverage and with newly developed methods, has led to historic shifts in public opinion and to a sharp decline in use of the death penalty by juries across the country. A social cascade, starting with legal clinics and innocence projects, has snowballed into a national phenomenon that may spell the end of the death penalty in America.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	p. vii
List of Figures	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Innocence and the Death Penalty Debate	p. 1
The Death Penalty in America	p. 23
A Chronology of Innocence	p. 49
The Shifting Terms of Debate	p. 102
Innocence, Resonance, and Old Arguments Made New Again	p. 136
Public Opinion	p. 166
The Rise and Fall of a Public Policy	p. 200
Conclusion	p. 216
Epilogue: Individuals Exonerated from Death Row	p. 231
New York Times Capital Punishment Coverage, 1960 to 2005	p. 243
Description of Data	p. 252
Notes	p. 265
References	p. 275
Index	p. 285
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