2015-2016 Go Big Read: Just Mercy : Death Penalty
This guide provides an overview of "Just Mercy" which was adopted as 2015-2016 Go Big Read book. It also offers useful information on related issues.
Overview Resources
For more visualizations of United States' Death Penalty data visit the Prison Policy Initiative site here.
- Equal Justice Inititiative: Death PenaltyResources about the Death Penalty in the United States, particularly about innocence, judge override, inadequate counsel, and race.
- Survey of the Federal Death Penalty System: A Statistical Survey (September 2014)From the U.S. Department of Justice
- Infoplease Statistics: Incarceration and Captial PunishmentFind statistics on the prison inmate population, capital punishment, exonerations, women on death row, and more
Library Resources at UW-Madison Campus
- A Life for a Life by Michael Dow BurkheadISBN: 9780786433681Publication Date: 2009-08-06Providing a new look at the intense public debate surrounding the death penalty in the United States, this book explores the various trends in public opinion that influence crime prevention efforts, create public policy, and reform criminal law. It examines eight core issues about the use of execution: cruel and unusual punishment, discrimination, deterrence, due process, culpability, scripture, innocence, and justice.
- The Death Penalty by Greenhaven Press Editors (Editor)ISBN: 9780737749601Publication Date: 2013-01-09This title explores whether the death penalty is just and ethical, whether the death penalty serves the public good, whether the death penalty is applied fairly, and whether the death penalty should be abolished or reformed.
- Debating the Death Penalty by Hugo Adam Bedau (Editor); Paul G. Cassell (Editor)ISBN: 9780195169836Publication Date: 2004-02-05This volume brings together seven experts-judges, lawyers, prosecutors, and philosophers-to debate the death penalty in a spirit of open inquiry and civil discussion. Here, as the contributors present their reasons for or against capital punishment, the multiple facets of the issue are revealed in clear and thought-provoking detail.
- DVD: Inside Death RowPublication Date: 2009It's the busiest execution chamber in the country. In the small town of Huntsville, Texas 18 inmates were executed in 2008 alone, 423 between 1982 and 2008. National Geographic provides rare access inside this center of the capital punishment controversy. In intimate interviews, meet those scheduled to be executed in just weeks and learn how they struggle through each day knowing the exact date and hour of their death. And find out how the residents of Huntsville feel about living in a town that's ground zero for capital punishment in the United States.
Viewpoints
- Death Penalty Information CenterThe Death Penalty Information Center is a national non-profit organization serving the media and the public with analysis and information on issues concerning capital punishment.
- National Colaition to Abolish the Death PenaltyThe National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty is the nation's oldest organization dedicated exclusively to the abolition of the death penalty. It leads a national movement against the death penalty fueled by a broad-based national constituency and more than 100 Affiliate organizations.
- Amnesty International: Death PenaltyWorldwide movement to end the death penalty.
- BBC Capital Punishment Ethics GuideThe question as to whether or not it is morally acceptable for the state to execute people, and if so under what circumstances, has been debated for centuries.
- Death Penalty ProCon.orgExplore Pros & Cons of Controversial Issues