Overview

As the death penalty clings to life in many states and dies off in others, this first-of-its-kind ethnography takes readers inside capital trials across the United States. Sarah Beth Kaufman draws on years of ethnographic and documentary research, including hundreds of hours of courtroom observation in seven states, interviews with participants, and analyses of newspaper coverage to reveal how the American justice system decides who deserves the most extreme punishment. The “super due process” accorded capital sentencing by the United States Supreme Court is the system’s best attempt at individuated sentencing. Resources not seen in most other parts of the criminal justice system, such as jurors and psychological experts, are required in capital trials, yet even these cannot create the conditions of morality or justice. Kaufman demonstrates that capital trials ultimately depend on performance and politics, resulting in the enactment of deep biases and utter capriciousness. American Roulette contends that the liberal, democratic ideals of criminal punishment cannot be enacted in the current criminal justice system, even under the most controlled circumstances.   

Full Product Details

9780520344396

Table of Contents

Reviews

This important book, whose insights fill a gap in our understanding of the death penalty . . . will be of immense value not only to scholars and practitioners in the field, but to all potential 'punitive citizens.' * Punishment & Society * American Roulette is a very good book, smart, easy to read, and chock full of incisive ideas about the US death penalty in the twenty-first century. * Law & Society Review *

This important book, whose insights fill a gap in our understanding of the death penalty . . . will be of immense value not only to scholars and practitioners in the field, but to all potential 'punitive citizens.' * Punishment & Society *

Author Information

Sarah Beth Kaufman is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas.  

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