First published 1995
Editor Shirley Dicks confronts an unthinkable reality when her son Jeff receives a death sentence for murder following a botched robbery that killed a storekeeper. His inadequate legal defense leads to a 1979 conviction that places him on death row. Dicks discovers that America's justice system operates with brutal selectivity rather than blind fairness. She observes how poverty, not uncontrollable violence, determines who faces execution. The wealthy never appear on death row in what she calls an arbitrary lottery of life and death. This personal tragedy transforms Dicks into a fierce critic of capital punishment. She assembles a powerful collection of perspectives from death row inmates, victims' families, legal experts, medical professionals, religious leaders, politicians, actors, and journalists. The anthology includes contributions from Senator Edward Kennedy, Mike Farrell, Mario Cuomo, Hugo Bedau, Tom Wicker, Peter Gabriel, Coretta Scott King, and many others, alongside statements from the ACLU and NAACP. Through these diverse voices, Dicks argues that the death penalty system degrades rather than enhances respect for human life.
Genres: politics, crime, non-fiction, biography-memoir, justice, law, activism, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: personal-tragedy, social-commentary
Setting: America
Period: 1979
290 pages · Paperback · Prometheus
Content warnings: death, murder