The Decline of the Death Penalty and the Discovery of Innocence

This book examines the possible end of capital punishment due to new discoveries of innocence.

Frank R. Baumgartner (Author), Suzanna L. De Boef (Author), Amber E. Boydstun (Author)

9780521887342, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 14 January 2008

310 pages, 17 tables
23.4 x 15.7 x 2.3 cm, 0.53 kg

'The Decline of the Death Penalty and the Discovery of Innocence is a heart-wrenching and inspirational book. … those are not typical adjectives used to describe a highly sophisticated piece of social science research, but in this case they apply. … this book is an excellent piece of scholarship and a fascinating read. Baumgartner, De Boef, and Boydstun provide a gripping account of the death penalty and the discovery of innocence. Scholars interested in the framing of issues or in the death penalty will be especially interested in this book … In addition, I recommend [it] for a much wider audience …' Journal of Politics

Since 1996, death sentences in America have declined by 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 in this book 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.

1. Innocence and the death penalty debate
2. The death penalty in America
3. A chronology of innocence
4. The shifting terms of debate
5. Innocence, resonance, and old arguments made new again
6. Public opinion
7. The rise and fall of a public policy
8. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Sentencing & punishment [LNFX1], Politics & government [JP], Penology & punishment [JKVP], Sociology [JHB], Ethical issues: capital punishment [JFMC]