Ulteriori informazioni
Zusatztext Some of his eminently readable prose reminds me of Alexis de Tocqueville's nineteenth-century narrative about his visit to America; it has the objective, thought-provoking quality of an astute observer rather than that of an interested participant in American politics. Informationen zum Autor David Garland is Professor of Sociology at New York University. He is one of the leading sociologists writing on punishment and crime control, his major works including Punishment and Modern Society, and The Culture of Control. Klappentext Taking us inside the world of capital punishment! this book presents a compelling picture of America's peculiar institution - its cultural meaning and symbolic force for supporters and abolitionists. Shattering current stereotypes! the book forces us to rethink our understanding of the politics of punishment in America and beyond. Zusammenfassung For many Europeans, the persistence of America's death penalty is a stark reminder of American otherness. The practice of state killing is an archaic relic, a hollow symbol that accomplishes nothing but reflects a puritanical, punitive culture - bloodthirsty in its pursuit of retribution. In debating capital punishment, the usual rhetoric points to America's deviance from the western norm: civilized abolition and barbaric retention; 'us' and 'them'.This remarkable new study by a leading social thinker sweeps aside the familiar story and offers a compelling interpretation of the culture of American punishment. It shows that the same forces that led to the death penalty's abolition in Europe once made America a pioneer of reform. That democracy and civilization are not the enemies of capital punishment, though liberalism and humanitarianism are. Making sense of today's differences requires a better understanding of American society and its punishments than the standard rhetoric allows.Taking us deep inside the world of capital punishment, the book offers a detailed picture of a peculiar institution - its cultural meaning and symbolic force for supporters and abolitionists, its place in the landscape of American politics and attitudes to crime, its constitutional status and the legal struggles that define it. Understanding the death penalty requires that we understand how American society is put together - the legacy of racial violence, the structures of social power, and the commitment to radical, local majority rule. Shattering current stereotypes, the book forces us to rethink our understanding of the politics of death and of punishment in America and beyond. Inhaltsverzeichnis Prologue; 1: Thinking about capital punishment; 2: The American way of death; 3: Capital punishment in the shadow of lynching; 4: Capital punishment in long-term perspective; 5: The decline of the death penalty in Europe and America; 6: The causes of capital punishment's decline; 7: The American state in comparative perspective; 8: American society! American violence! American culture; 9: Capital punishment and the American social structure; 10: An American abolition: Furman v Georgia in context; 11: Backlash: the new meanings of capital punishment; 12: Rationalize! civilize! democratize: the Supreme Court strategies; 13: The uses of capital punishment; 14: The peculiar institution explained ...
