Forthcoming Book: Ending the Death Penalty

In June, Palgrave MacMillan will publish in Great Britain my first book, Ending the Death Penalty: The European Experience in Global Perspective. You can pre-order it at Palgrave's website here, at Amazon.com here, and at Amazon.de here.

 

The book grew, in part, out of the many conversations I've had with Europeans about the perennial question: Why is the United States one of the last industrialized democracies to carry out capital punishment? There are many theories -- a good overview can be found in this article by Harvard law professor Carol Steiker.

 

The more I thought about the question, though, the more I became interested in the other side: how did Europe manage to end executions? Abolishing capital punishment is, after all, an unusual step -- most countries still have the death penalty, and it enjoys majority support in many different countries and cultures.

 

I focus primarily on three successful abolition movements, in Germany (abolition in 1949), Great Britain (1969), and France (1981). I look at historical background to the modern abolition movements, profiling the leaders, the tactics, and the strategies. I find that in all of the countries I look at, the struggle to abolish capital punishment was generally led by the political and educational elite: professors of criminal law and criminology, human-rights activists, lawyers, and other educated professionals. The final phase of legal abolition was always led by skilled parliamentary tacticians such as Dr. Thomas Dehler in Germany, Sydney Silverman in the United Kingdom, and Robert Badinter in France.

 

The death penalty has never been abolished because of grass-roots pressure. In fact, as I argue in the first part of the book, support for capital punishment is the 'default' position of most people, and typical arguments against the death penalty -- the risk of executing innocent people, cost, lack of deterrence -- have little effect on mass opinion. In all three countries I look at, the political elite was far in advance of the general public, who continued to support capital punishment by large majorities for decades after it was legally ended.

 

After the chapters dealing with France, Germany, and the UK, I broaden the focus to what made it possible to abolish capital punishment in these three countries. Many people point to cultural or historical factors (and these are certainly part of the explanation), but I argue that the importance of structural factors: Is criminal-justice policy made on a national or local level? How accountable are politicians to public opinion about crime? How much control do non-political experts and civil servants have over the justice system? The answers to these questions clearly distinguish the United States from Europe and the UK. They also provide a framework for analyzing the prospects for abolition in the many nations, such as Japan, China, and India, that still execute prisoners.

 

I tried to write Ending the Death Penalty for a non-specialist audience. There are some discussions of laws and judicial opinions, but nothing very technical, since the questions I'm discussing are more political than they are strictly legal. I hope you'll consider buying a copy, or requesting that your friendly neighborhood library buy one.

Comments

[Cheap Web Design]

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[Shoe Deals]

This is an interesting book if I may say. Having your take on the book make me want to buy it right away. Is this available in all leading bookstores?

[keylogger Mac]

Your blogs are really really informative.

[Chris]

Sounds like an interesting read. Fortunately, Heidelberg's university library already has a copy of your book.

Btw., the above link to Carol Steiker's Capital Punishment and American Exceptionalism changed.

[סידור הבית]

It's provide a framework for analysis of the prospects for the elimination of many nations, including Japan, China and India, which continue to execute prisoners.

[noribori]

“Karambolage“ is one of ARTE's finest efforts in studying, comparing and celebrating the interesting little differences in French and German culture and everyday life. The 10 minute episodes are broadcasted on ARTE every sunday 20:00 p.m. and can also be watched on ARTE's website for some weeks.

Yesterday an older episode was broadcasted commemorating the abolition of death penalty in France 30 years ago. It's not one of the best episodes of “Karambolage“ but interesting enough to point it out. For everyone interested in German everyday culture "Karambolage“ is a must, anyway.

[new to it]

you know, that germany in 1949, in fact, was two germanies?
did you compare west and east? although east did execute prisoners long after official abolition (and the russians officially did so -- even east german prisoners), it would be interesting to see how east and west influenced each other and maybe offer some insights, since the east did not enjoy real parlamentarism until 1989.

but reading your text above, i am sure you adopted the west german point of view, which is "east germany is not germany and german history is west german history" even in the most ordinary realms like "first car" (a beetle of course), "first travel abroad" (italy) and stuff like pril-flower or bonanza bikes.