Social Science - Capital Punishment

The gripping true story of a serial con man and the innocent man he sent to death row by award-winning New York Times Magazine writer Pamela Colloff For more than three decades, Paul Skalnik roamed the Gulf Coast lying about who he was. He...

The riveting, true story of an audacious con man who helped send another man to death row for a murder he did not commit "Incendiary, emotionally devastating. [This] is a feat of dogged reporting, bravura storytelling, and clear-eyed moral conscience."--Patrick Radden Keefe, author of...

Dismantling the Death Penalty is a succinct, accessible, and lively overview of research on the costs and consequences of capital punishment. Professor Costanzo uses diverse sources of information--including closing arguments from murder trials; interviews with jurors; statistical analyses of murder rates; survey data; and...

The last meals of death row convicts fascinate us because they offer an insight into a disturbed mind shortly before its owner's death. The last meal is a way for the system to offer a last-minute nod to humanity--that although these murderers, rapists, and...

A groundbreaking new take on the American justice system from one of its unknown revolutionaries, offering a powerful new vision of responsibility, punishment, and repair. "The first book I'm aware of to pull back the curtain on a life-saving field most have never heard...

Freakonomics for criminal justice, The Science of Second Chances presents a groundbreaking approach to criminal justice reform, revealing how small-scale interventions can reduce people's chances of reoffending and break the incarceration cycle. When criminal justice expert Jennifer Doleac thinks about reform, she's not just...

Joe Ingle's Too Close to the Flame is a heartbreakingly beautiful account of over four decades serving as a spiritual counselor, guide, and friend to the men and women on Death Row. "I had been working with the condemned since 1975--but never before had...