The Death Penalty: An American History

by Stuart Banner

The death penalty arouses our passions as does few other issues. Some view taking another person's life as just and reasonable punishment while others see it as an inhumane and barbaric act. But the intensity of feeling that capital punishment provokes often obscures its long and varied history in this country. Now, for the first time, we have a comprehensive history of the death penalty in the United States. Law professor Stuart Banner tells the story of how, over four centuries, dramatic changes have taken place in the ways capital punishment has been administered and experienced. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the penalty was standard for a laundry list of crimes--from adultery to murder, from arson to stealing horses. Hangings were public events, staged before audiences numbering in the thousands, attended by women and men, young and old, black and white alike. Early on, the gruesome spectacle had explicitly religious purposes--an event replete with sermons, confessions, and last minute penitence--to promote the salvation of both the condemned and the crowd. Through the nineteenth century, the execution became desacralized, increasingly secular and private, in response to changing mores. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, ironically, as it has become a quiet, sanitary, technological procedure, the death penalty is as divisive as ever. By recreating what it was like to be the condemned, the executioner, and the spectator, Banner moves beyond the debates, to give us an unprecedented understanding of capital punishment's many meanings. As nearly four thousand inmates are now on death row, and almost one hundred are currently being executed each year, the furious debate is unlikely to diminish. The Death Penalty is invaluable in understanding the American way of the ultimate punishment.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Law, Sociology, American History, Crime

408 pages, Hardcover

First published March 22, 2002

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first picked up this book from my public library for research purposes because I was going to write a paper for my college English class over whether or not the death penalty should be legal. I had to drop that class for personal reasons due to an injury, and I stopped reading it when I dropped the class. However, I soon got put under quarantine due to the coronavirus, and I decided to pick this back up and finish reading it, and I'm glad I did.

For anyone who's even wondered about the death penalty, this should be a go-to book for you. The history of the evolution of how the United States has executed prisoners is amazing. Each state has a crazy history with both accepting and abolishing the death penalty, and the book makes you care about certain Supreme Court cases regarding the death penalty.

It's a lot more interesting than it sounds. That sounds crazy, but I promise you, it's a fantastic book. It's a history book that I think would appeal to anyone who doesn't like history. And considering that some of the events described took place around twenty years or so ago, it's very recent history. Would I recommend it? Absolutely.

[Kenneth Barber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This history of the death penalty begins with colonial times and the European antecedents of the of the punishment. The penalty was viewed by many and was treated as a public spectacle. The person facing death was supposed to admit his guilt and pray for forgiveness. The execution was often preceded by a sermon. The author then traces the way the penalty changed over the years, not only in method but also in public perception.
The author also follows the continuing struggle to eliminate the use of the death penalty. The attempts began as a movement to change the penalty through legislation, then moved into the courts to achieve elimination. This book was informative and did a good job of presenting arguments on both sides of the issue.

[Josh Tatum · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-written description of how Americans have viewed, debated, and implemented the death penalty over our history. It's missing some important developments since it was published, but that is the only shortcoming I can think of, and really it's just a wish there were a second edition on the way.

[gen · Rating 3 out of 5]

add up to 3.5/5. was pretty good, definitely repetitive.

“engaging for an academic read” - ava kleeberger

[Claire Binkley · Rating 2 out of 5]

The reason my rating is so low is that it does greatly alarm me that the death penalty is not a part of the past in my home country yet: so far, twenty people have been lethally injected this year, according to the DPIC.
So I'd better not look at any of my pals in the government too funny!

It makes me cock an eyebrow to see that women have to be particularly highlighted on that list. Apparently this year not only black men have been issued the death penalty (7/20 is that tally - 8 white, remainder Latino).

However, I did not skim this book, far from it. I find this topic particularly relevant, compelling and fascinating. Relevant comes from the Latin relevans, lifting up - I think it is important, what that word implies, since this has not been abolished where I live, ergo it is a current threat.
It was compelling, pushing me forward, since I really didn't want to be reading this at the same time as I spend time with children.
Lastly, I am intrigued by government condemnation of anybody to not see tomorrow. It's not just something that happens to Islamic women who get framed for something that looks like she'd been acting against the Quran's teachings. As that list revealed, the death penalty appears mostly like a Hammurabi-type eye-for-an-eye deed.

Haven't we graduated past that yet as a species?

[Breanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really comprehensive book of the history of the death penalty in the United States. The author went in depth into each method of execution used, and the flow of public opinion over the hundreds of years we have been executing people in the United States.
Although there is a tinge of the author being against the death penalty, on the whole I think he does an excellent job at lying down the arguments both pro and con, and explaining the different causes for the moral, legal and constitutional arguments about the death penalty.
This is an excellent book for anyone who wants a wide-view of the death penalty in the United States.

[Teddy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Informative but poorly written at times. The author focuses largely on the history of hanging and the atmosphere and social nature of the event, less so on the more recent history of electrocutions and lethal injections. He does touch on the legal battles surrounding capital punishment, which is interesting, but mostly avoids any case studies which might have added interest.

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a rather comprehensive look at the death penalty through the course of American history, from the colonial era to the late 1990s, covering the legislative and executive decision at the state and federal levels and the various methods of execution. Overall, it was an ok read.

[Yaqoub · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book but a little dry if you are not a history buff like myself and not the fastest read because it is more like a textbook I personally like that it is so well researched and provides lots of factual analysis and statistics.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive ... a fine starting point

[Chelsea]

Read sections.

[Genevieve Lanz · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you don't enjoy history, you probably won't enjoy it, it's dry but very cool book. Looks to discuss a very contested question

[Filjan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather repetitive.

The USA is near the top of the list of countries that have the death penalty. It ranks with such civilised countries as China, North Korea , Iran and Saudi Arabia.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out really interesting, but then got repetitive and was all about the courts and the waffling between supporters and opponents of the death penalty.