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"The Death Penalty: Racist, Classist and Unfair"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the provocative headline given to this (not especially provocative) piece in Time magazine.  The piece is just a brief Q&A with David Dow, the author of the new book The Autobiography of an Execution. Here is the Q and the A that prompts the headline of the piece: Q: You call the capital-punishment system "racist, classist, [and] unprincipled," but say you feel sympathy for people who support the death penalty.  How can the two coexist? A:  On a regular basis, I'm sitting face-to-face with murderers.  When I imagine sitting face-to-face with somebody who might have injured somebody I love or care about, I can imagine wanting to injure that person myself.  I used to support the death penalty.  [But] once I started doing the work, I became aware of the inequalities...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on February 23, 2010 (boomark / email).