Mercy on trial : what it means to stop an execution

書誌事項

Mercy on trial : what it means to stop an execution

Austin Sarat

Princeton University Press, 2007, c2005

  • : pbk

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注記

Includes bibliographical references and index

"First paperback printing, 2007"--T.p. verso

内容説明・目次

内容説明

On January 11, 2003, Illinois Governor George Ryan--a Republican on record as saying that "some crimes are so horrendous ...that society has a right to demand the ultimate penalty"--commuted the capital sentences of all 167 prisoners on his state's death row. Critics demonized Ryan. For opponents of capital punishment, however, Ryan became an instant hero whose decision was seen as a signal moment in the "new abolitionist" politics to end killing by the state. In this compelling and timely work, Austin Sarat provides the first book-length work on executive clemency. He turns our focus from questions of guilt and innocence to the very meaning of mercy. Starting from Ryan's controversial decision, Mercy on Trial uses the lens of executive clemency in capital cases to discuss the fraught condition of mercy in American political life. Most pointedly, Sarat argues that mercy itself is on trial. Although it has always had a problematic position as a form of "lawful lawlessness," it has come under much more intense popular pressure and criticism in recent decades. This has yielded a radical decline in the use of the power of chief executives to stop executions. From the history of capital clemency in the twentieth century to surrounding legal controversies and philosophical debates about when (if ever) mercy should be extended, Sarat examines the issue comprehensively. In the end, he acknowledges the risks associated with mercy--but, he argues, those risks are worth taking.

目次

Acknowledgments xi Chapter 1: Mercy, Clemency, and Capital Punishment 1 The Illinois Story Chapter 2: Capital Clemency in the Twentieth Century 33 Putting Illinois in Context Chapter 3: The Jurisprudence of Clemency 69 What Place for Mercy? Chapter 4: Governing Clemency 94 From Redemption to Retribution Chapter 5: Clemency without Mercy 116 George Ryan's Dilemma Chapter 6: Conclusion 143 On Mercy and Its Risks Appendix A: George Ryan: 163 "I Must Act" Appendix B: Capital Clemency, 1900-2004 181 Commutations by State Appendix C: Chronology of Capital Clemency, 1900-2004 189 Commutations by Governor Notes 259 Index 317

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