Overview

This is a fascinating and intelligent exploration of some of America's most noteworthy and important capital punishment cases. In 1969, America's Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment was unconstitutional. But the Court's resolve soon began to falter. Why? What were the consequences for the rule of law and for the life at stake in the case? These are some of the fascinating questions answered in the intelligent and insightful volume that pulls back the curtain of secrecy that surrounds Supreme Court deliberations but also reveals the crucial links between landmark capital punishment cases and the lethal crimes at their root. The authors take readers to crime scenes, holding cells, jury rooms, autopsy suites, and execution chambers to provide true-life reporting on vicious criminals and the haphazard system that punishes them. The cases reported are truly ""the cases that made the law."" In-depth yet completely accessible, this book provides compelling human stories that illuminate the thorny legal issues behind America's most noteworthy capital punishment cases.

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9781616146481

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Reviews

"""""This book takes the smoke screen out of the capital-punishment debate and dishes out the realities: the challenges to judges and lawmakers posed by awful crimes, competing pressures on the scale of justice, and the role of victims in determining punishment. A great read and more. Martin Clancy and Tim O'Brien have written an important book."" -Barbara Walters, ABC News ""This book is a lightning strike. It quickens the mind, illuminates the landscape, and guarantees you will see things differently-in this case, how the jagged edges of justice come to bear on decisions of life and death. Clancy and O'Brien are journalists at the top of their class, where facts matter and reporting can read like a novel."" -Bill Moyers, journalist, author, and managing editor, Moyers & Company ""A fascinating treatment of some of the Supreme Court's seminal criminal-law cases, complete with the invariably intriguing facts, characters, and circumstances that made each case so unique and compelling. A great read for lawyers, students, and the general public alike. The makings of a great true-life television series."" -Ted Olson, former U.S. Solicitor General ""A thoughtful and fascinating look behind the headlines of some of the most grisly-and important-murder cases at the Supreme Court."" -Jeffrey Toobin, writer for the New Yorker, legal analyst for CNN ""The most knowledgeable and informative book about crime and capital punishment available today."" -Johnny Hughes, U.S. Marshal, District of Maryland (Hughes, a veteran law-enforcement officer, is a former major in the Maryland State Police) ""A thought-provoking book written at the right time for our society to revisit the death penalty."" -Burl Cain, warden at Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola (Cain has pre"

This book takes the smoke screen out of the capital-punishment debate and dishes out the realities: the challenges to judges and lawmakers posed by awful crimes, competing pressures on the scale of justice, and the role of victims in determining punishment. A great read and more. Martin Clancy and Tim O'Brien have written an important book. <br>-Barbara Walters, ABC News<br><br> This book is a lightning strike. It quickens the mind, illuminates the landscape, and guarantees you will see things differently-in this case, how the jagged edges of justice come to bear on decisions of life and death. Clancy and O'Brien are journalists at the top of their class, where facts matter and reporting can read like a novel. <br>-Bill Moyers, journalist, author, and managing editor, Moyers & Company<br><br> A fascinating treatment of some of the Supreme Court's seminal criminal-law cases, complete with the invariably intriguing facts, characters, and circumstances that made each case so unique and compelling. A great read for lawyers, students, and the general public alike. The makings of a great true-life television series. <br>-Ted Olson, former U.S. Solicitor General<br><br> A thoughtful and fascinating look behind the headlines of some of the most grisly-and important-murder cases at the Supreme Court. <br>-Jeffrey Toobin, writer for the New Yorker, legal analyst for CNN<br><br> The most knowledgeable and informative book about crime and capital punishment available today. <br>-Johnny Hughes, U.S. Marshal, District of Maryland (Hughes, a veteran law-enforcement officer, is a former major in the Maryland State Police)<br><br> A thought-provoking book written at the right time for our society to revisit the death penalty. <br>-Burl Cain, warden at Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola (Cain has pre

This book takes the smoke screen out of the capital-punishment debate and dishes out the realities: the challenges to judges and lawmakers posed by awful crimes, competing pressures on the scale of justice, and the role of victims in determining punishment. A great read and more. Martin Clancy and Tim O'Brien have written an important book. -Barbara Walters, ABC News This book is a lightning strike. It quickens the mind, illuminates the landscape, and guarantees you will see things differently-in this case, how the jagged edges of justice come to bear on decisions of life and death. Clancy and O'Brien are journalists at the top of their class, where facts matter and reporting can read like a novel. -Bill Moyers, journalist, author, and managing editor, Moyers & Company A fascinating treatment of some of the Supreme Court's seminal criminal-law cases, complete with the invariably intriguing facts, characters, and circumstances that made each case so unique and compelling. A great read for lawyers, students, and the general public alike. The makings of a great true-life television series. -Ted Olson, former U.S. Solicitor General A thoughtful and fascinating look behind the headlines of some of the most grisly-and important-murder cases at the Supreme Court. -Jeffrey Toobin, writer for the New Yorker, legal analyst for CNN The most knowledgeable and informative book about crime and capital punishment available today. -Johnny Hughes, U.S. Marshal, District of Maryland (Hughes, a veteran law-enforcement officer, is a former major in the Maryland State Police) A thought-provoking book written at the right time for our society to revisit the death penalty. -Burl Cain, warden at Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola (Cain has pre

Author Information

Martin Clancy and Tim O'Brien are award-winning journalists and veterans of ABC News. They have reported on capital punishment for more than 30 years.

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