Routledge Handbook on Capital Punishment

Robert M. Bohm, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida. He has published numerous books, book chapters, and journal articles in the areas of criminal justice and criminology. His books on capital punishment include DEATHQUEST: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Capital Punishment in the United States, 5th ed. (2017); America's Experiment with Capital Punishment: Reflections on the Past, Present, and Future of the Ultimate Sanction, 3rd ed. (with James R. Acker and Charles S. Lanier, 2014); Capital Punishment’s Collateral Damage (2013); The Past as Prologue: The Supreme Court’s Pre-Modern Jurisprudence and Its Influence on the Supreme Court’s Modern Death Penalty Decisions (2012); Ultimate Sanction: Understanding the Death Penalty Through Its Many Voices and Many Sides (2010); The Death Penalty Today (2008); and The Death Penalty in America: Current Research (1991). Professor Bohm is a Fellow of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (1999), and he previously served as the organization’s president (1992–1993). He also is the recipient of the Academy’s Founder's Award (2001) and Bruce Smith Sr. Award (2008).Gavin Lee, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Criminology at the University of West Georgia. His research interests include the death penalty, serial murder, and criminological theory. His work has been published in the American Journal of Criminal Justice; the International Journal of Crime, Criminal Justice and Law; the Southwestern Journal of Criminology; and he has written several chapters in encyclopedia and edited works.

The broad range of important themes and topics covered, all in one text, will be a valuable resource for students, researchers, and professionals. The editors have done excellent work in identifying a fairly wide readership and outlining a text that will appeal to that readership…In addition to the book being well-structured and including a range of important themes and issues around capital punishment, the chapters are authored by well-respected scholars. The collection of authors is impressive, and the book is sure to reflect current research and scholarship. – DJ Williams, Idaho State UniversityThe contents of this compendium demonstrate that the "withering away" of the death penalty is a real phenomenon related to, among other things, racial bias, high costs, super-regulation, the failure of juror decision-making, and wrongful conviction errors. The volume also focuses on the hopeful Marshall hypothesis that an educated public is more likely to accept the death penalty's failures. – Leona D. Jochnowitz, in Criminal Law Bulletin, Vol. 55, No. 5 (2019)

• PART 1: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: HISTORY, OPINION, AND CULTUREA. History1. The American Death Penalty: A Short (But Long) HistoryJohn Bessler, University of Baltimore School of Law 2. Capital Punishment and LynchingMargaret Vandiver, University of MemphisB. Opinion3. Public Opinion About the Death PenaltyJames D. Unnever, University of South Florida, Sarasota, Manatee; Leah Butler, University of Cincinnati; Francis Cullen, University of Cincinnati; and Angela Thielo, University of Louisville4. The Marshall HypothesesJohn Cochran, University of South FloridaC. Culture5. Media and Capital PunishmentMatthew Robinson, Appalachian State University 6. Popular Media and the Death Penalty: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Death Penalty in FilmMaya Pagni Barak, University of Michigan, Dearborn7. Why We Need the Death PenaltyAndrew Fulkerson, Southeastern Missouri State UniversityPART 2: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: RATIONALES AND RELIGIOUS VIEWSA. Rationales8. RetributionGeorge Kain, Western Connecticut State University, and Dale Recinella, St. Mary Mother of Mercy9. General Deterrence and BrutalizationGennaro Vito, University of Louisville, and Anthony Vito, University of West Georgia10. Incapacitation and Life without ParoleJon Sorensen, Texas A&M University, Prairie View, and Thomas Reidy, ABPPB. Religious Views11. Christianity and the Death PenaltyTobias Winright, St. Louis University12. Judaism and the Death PenaltyEdna Erez, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Kathy Laster, Victoria University13. Death Penalty in Sharia LawSanaz Alasti, Lamar University, and Eric Bronson, Lamar UniversityPART 3: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AND CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES14. The U.S. Supreme Court and the Death PenaltyKatherine Bennett, Armstrong State University, and H. Chris Tecklenberg, Armstrong State University15. Capital Punishment and Aggravating and Mitigating CircumstancesCarol Steiker, Harvard Law School, and Jordan Steiker, University of Texas Law School16. Capital Offenders’ Intellectual Disability and "Insanity": Excluding and Delaying the Death Penalty Peggy Tobolowsky, University of North Texas PART 4: THE DEATH PENALTY’S ADMINISTRATION17. The Financial Costs of the Death Penalty: Examining the EvidenceGordon Waldo, Florida State University18. Prosecutors and Capital PunishmentStacy Parker, Muskingum University19. Counsel for the Despised and Condemned: Capital Defense AttorneysJeffrey Kirchmeier, City University of New York School of Law 20. The Capital Jury and Sentencing: Neither Guided Nor IndividualizedWanda Foglia, Rowan University, and Marla Sandys, Indiana University Bloomington21. The Penalty Phase of the Capital Murder Trial: A Social-Psychological AnalysisMark Costanzo, Claremont McKenna College, and Zoey Costanzo, Cornell University 22. The Appellate Process in Capital CasesVanessa Woodward Griffin, University of West Georgia, and O. Hayden Griffin III, University of Alabama, Birmingham 23. Clemency: Failsafe or Fantasy? Cathleen Burnett, University of Missouri, Kansas City 24. Execution Methods in a NutshellDeborah Denno, Fordham University25. California’s Chaotic Death PenaltyStacy Mallicoat, California State University, Fullerton; Brenda L. Vogel, California State University, Long Beach; and David Crawford, Death Penalty Focus26. Reflections on the Abattoir - TexasDennis Longmire, Sam Houston State University, and Alex Updegrove, Sam Houston State University27. The Federal Death PenaltyStephanie Mizrahi, California State University, Sacramento 28. The Death Penalty and the United States Armed ForcesCatherine Grosso, Michigan State University PART 5: THE DEATH PENALTY’S CONSEQUENCES29. The Topography of Capital Punishment: Geographic Variations in Seeking, Achieving, and Carrying Out the Death PenaltyAdam Trahan, University of North Texas; Kaleigh B. Laird, University of North Texas; and Douglas N. Evans, Mercy College30. Age, Class, and Sex Disparities in Capital PunishmentEtta Morgan, Jackson State University31. Race and the Death PenaltyKristie Blevins, Eastern Kentucky University, and Kevin Minor, Eastern Kentucky University32. Wrongful Capital ConvictionsTalia Roitberg Harmon, Niagara University, and Diana Falco, Niagara University33. Life and Work on Death RowRobert Johnson, American University34. Capital Punishment and Victims’ and Offenders’ FamiliesLynn Pazzani, University of West Georgia35. Capital Punishment’s Co-VictimsKyle Burgason, Iowa State University36. Exoneration: Life After Death RowScott Vollum, University of Minnesota, Duluth37. The Demise of the Death Penalty with Special Focus on the United StatesRobert M. Bohm, University of Central Florida