Stay of Execution

Charles Lane is an editorial writer and member of the editorial board at the Washington Post. He has been a correspondent at Newsweek and editor and senior editor at the New Republic.

Though partisans often reiterate old talking points in death penalty debates, Charles Lane in Stay of Execution shows repeatedly why there is so much more to learn and say about the modern administration of capital punishment in the United States. Though I have spent much of the last two decades studying and writing about the death penalty, I learned new information and gained new insights from every chapter of Stay of Execution. This book is a must-read not only for students of the death penalty, but for any and everyone concerned about the modern intersection of politics, policy and punishment.

• Chapter 1 PrefaceChapter 2 Chapter 1: The Disappearance of Death?Chapter 3 Chapter 2: The Case Against the Case Against the Death PenaltyChapter 4 Chapter 3: The Case Against the Case for the Death PenaltyChapter 5 Chapter 4: A Special Penalty for Special CasesChapter 6 AcknowledgmentsChapter 7 EndnotesChapter 8 Index