The Decline of the Death Penalty and the Discovery of Innocence

Frank R. Baumgartner is Miller-LaVigne Professor of Political Science at Penn State University. His previous publications include: Comparative Studies of Policy Agendas (2007), The Politics of Attention: How Government Prioritizes Problems (with Bryan D. Jones, 2005), Policy Dynamics (with Bryan D. Jones, 2002), and Agendas and Instability in American Politics (with Bryan D. Jones, 1993), winner of the 2001 Aaron Wildavsky Award, APSA Organized Section on Public Policy. He has been published widely in journals and serves on the editorial boards of American Journal of Political Science, Political Research Quarterly, Journal of European Public Policy, Policy Studies Journal, and Journal of Information Technology and Politics. Suzanna L. De Boef is Associate Professor of Political Science at Penn State University. Her research examines the dynamics of public opinion, elections, and public policy and the statistical methods used to analyze them. Her work has appeared in journals such as the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Politics, Political Analysis, and Statistics in Medicine. Amber E. Boydstun is a graduate student in Political Science at Penn State University. Her research explores the influence of issue-definition on media agenda control. She has been published in Mass Communication and Society.

'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

• 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.