 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
This volume, a godsend for opponents of capital punishment, indicates that there is an even chance that inmates spared the death penalty can be rehabilitated. After the Supreme Court ruled in Furman v. Georgia (1972) that the death penalty was unconstitutional, 589 murderers and rapists were released from death row and into the general prison population. (New laws upheld the death penalty in 1976.) About half of these men were eventually released; Cheever, a legal affairs journalist who trained as a lawyer, found and interviewed 125 of them. Their personal stories feature both redemption and dismal failure but do show that rehabilitation is possible even among the worst cases. Two other trains of thought run through Cheever's text. First, she was determined to meet Furman, the man behind the 1972 legal decision, and her search for him deep into Mississippi reads like an epic tale. Finally, going back to her unsuccessful legal defense of a man named Walter Williams, whose 1997 execution for murder started her on her odyssey, Cheever hunts down the mother of the victim. Written in a style that should appeal to the general reader, this volume is essential reading for anyone interested in the right or wrong of the death penalty.
Highly recommended.
Frances Sandiford (ret.), Green Haven Correctional Facility Lib., Stormville, NY Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
|
|
|
|
|
|
