Sheldon Ekland-Olson joined The University of Texas at Austin after completing his graduate work at the University of Washington in Seattle and Yale Law School. He is currently the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Centennial Professor of Liberal Arts. For five years he served as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and then for eight years as Executive Vice President and Provost of the university. He has authored or co-authored several books and numerous articles on criminal justice, prison reform, and capital punishment. Widely recognized for his commitment to teaching undergraduates, he is the recipient of numerous teaching awards. His current interests are reflected in the book manuscript, Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides?Julie Beicken is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include political sociology, social movements, eugenics, the Supreme Court, and reproductive technologies. Julie received her Master's degree in 2009 for her thesis, Eugenics: An Elite Social Movement. She has published book reviews in Women's Studies International Forum and Critical Mass.

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• 1. What Lies Ahead  2. An Exclusionary Movement is Born  3. Legal Reform to Eliminate Defectives  4. Redrawing the Boundaries of Protected Life  5. Crystallizing Events and Ethical Principles