Paul Kaplan is associate professor in the Program in Criminal Justice in the School of Public Affairs at San Diego State University. He received his Ph.D. in Criminology, Law and Society from the University of California, Irvine in 2007. Prior to entering academics, Dr. Kaplan worked as a mitigation investigator on capital cases in California. His primary research area is capital punishment, but he also works on projects involving socio-legal theory, cultural criminology, and comparative law. His work has appeared in journals such as the Law & Society Review, Theoretical Criminology, and Law & Social Inquiry.

Murder Stories is a theoretically sophisticated book and Kaplan’s analysis is distinctive. Kaplan uses death penalty stories to illustrate the complexities and contradictions of capital punishment in the United States and to reflect on the cultural conditions which sustain it. This book is a compelling read and makes a truly important contribution to the existing literature.

• PrologueChapter 1: Capital Punishment Conflicts, Narrativity, Hegemony, and ResistanceChapter 2: The American Creed and American Capital PunishmentChapter 3: Death Especially DeregulatedChapter 4: The American Creed in Prosecutor and Defender NarrativesChapter 5: Forgetting the Future: Cause Lawyering and the Work of California Capital Trial DefendersChapter 6: Facts and Furies: The Antinomies of Facts, Law, and Retribution in the Work of Capital ProsecutorsEpilogue

Paul Kaplan is associate professor in the Program in Criminal Justice in the School of Public Affairs at San Diego State University. He received his Ph.D. in Criminology, Law and Society from the University of California, Irvine in 2007. Prior to entering academics, Dr. Kaplan worked as a mitigation investigator on capital cases in California. His primary research area is capital punishment, but he also works on projects involving socio-legal theory, cultural criminology, and comparative law. His work has appeared in journals such as the Law & Society Review, Theoretical Criminology, and Law & Social Inquiry.

Murder Stories is a theoretically sophisticated book and Kaplan’s analysis is distinctive. Kaplan uses death penalty stories to illustrate the complexities and contradictions of capital punishment in the United States and to reflect on the cultural conditions which sustain it. This book is a compelling read and makes a truly important contribution to the existing literature.

• PrologueChapter 1: Capital Punishment Conflicts, Narrativity, Hegemony, and ResistanceChapter 2: The American Creed and American Capital PunishmentChapter 3: Death Especially DeregulatedChapter 4: The American Creed in Prosecutor and Defender NarrativesChapter 5: Forgetting the Future: Cause Lawyering and the Work of California Capital Trial DefendersChapter 6: Facts and Furies: The Antinomies of Facts, Law, and Retribution in the Work of Capital ProsecutorsEpilogue

Paul Kaplan is associate professor in the Program in Criminal Justice in the School of Public Affairs at San Diego State University. He received his Ph.D. in Criminology, Law and Society from the University of California, Irvine in 2007. Prior to entering academics, Dr. Kaplan worked as a mitigation investigator on capital cases in California. His primary research area is capital punishment, but he also works on projects involving socio-legal theory, cultural criminology, and comparative law. His work has appeared in journals such as the Law & Society Review, Theoretical Criminology, and Law & Social Inquiry.

Murder Stories is a theoretically sophisticated book and Kaplan’s analysis is distinctive. Kaplan uses death penalty stories to illustrate the complexities and contradictions of capital punishment in the United States and to reflect on the cultural conditions which sustain it. This book is a compelling read and makes a truly important contribution to the existing literature.

• PrologueChapter 1: Capital Punishment Conflicts, Narrativity, Hegemony, and ResistanceChapter 2: The American Creed and American Capital PunishmentChapter 3: Death Especially DeregulatedChapter 4: The American Creed in Prosecutor and Defender NarrativesChapter 5: Forgetting the Future: Cause Lawyering and the Work of California Capital Trial DefendersChapter 6: Facts and Furies: The Antinomies of Facts, Law, and Retribution in the Work of Capital ProsecutorsEpilogue