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Deadly Justice: A Statistical Portrait of the Death Penalty
In 1976, the US Supreme Court ruled in Gregg v. Georgia that the death penalty was constitutional if it complied with certain specific provisions designed to ensure that it was reserved for the 'worst of the worst.' The same court had rejected the death penalty just four years before in the Furman decision because it found that the penalty had been applied in a capricious and arbitrary manner. The 1976 decision ushered in the 'modern' period of the US death penalty, setting the country on a course to execute over 1,400 inmates in the ensuing years, with over 8,000 individuals currently sentenced to die.
Now, forty years after the decision, the eminent political scientist Frank Baumgartner along with a team of younger scholars (Marty Davidson, Kaneesha Johnson, Arvind Krishnamurthy, and Colin Wilson) have collaborated to assess the empirical record and provide a definitive account of how the death penalty has been implemented. Each chapter addresses a precise empirical question and provides evidence, not opinion, about whether how the modern death penalty has functioned. They decided to write the book after Justice Breyer issued a dissent in a 2015 death penalty case in which he asked for a full briefing on the constitutionality of the death penalty. In particular, they assess the extent to which the modern death penalty has met the aspirations of Gregg or continues to suffer from the flaws that caused its rejection in Furman. To answer this question, they provide the most comprehensive statistical account yet of the workings of the capital punishment system. Authoritative and
pithy, the book is intended for both students in a wide variety of fields, researchers studying the topic, and--not least--the Supreme Court itself.
Now, forty years after the decision, the eminent political scientist Frank Baumgartner along with a team of younger scholars (Marty Davidson, Kaneesha Johnson, Arvind Krishnamurthy, and Colin Wilson) have collaborated to assess the empirical record and provide a definitive account of how the death penalty has been implemented. Each chapter addresses a precise empirical question and provides evidence, not opinion, about whether how the modern death penalty has functioned. They decided to write the book after Justice Breyer issued a dissent in a 2015 death penalty case in which he asked for a full briefing on the constitutionality of the death penalty. In particular, they assess the extent to which the modern death penalty has met the aspirations of Gregg or continues to suffer from the flaws that caused its rejection in Furman. To answer this question, they provide the most comprehensive statistical account yet of the workings of the capital punishment system. Authoritative and
pithy, the book is intended for both students in a wide variety of fields, researchers studying the topic, and--not least--the Supreme Court itself.
- GenresPoliticsNonfictionSchool
416 pages, Paperback
Published December 6, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 27, 2018
Five stars! This is a great resource for those interested in understanding the death penalty issue.
I am reminded of my time as President of the Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. I went in thinking we would make a philosophical argument that it is never right to take the life of a defenseless nonthreatening human being: that was not a winning argument. I thought we might argue that the 1% to 4% odds that the person being executed was innocent would give death penalty advocates pause: that was not a winning argument. I thought that evidence that the penalty is applied arbitrarily and capriciously, and that we execute not the worst-of-the-worst, but those without the intellectual and financial resources to get out of the way, would be effective: that is not a winning argument.
It turns out that the winning argument, bereft of principle, is that the death penalty is more expensive than life-without-parole. This fine book confirms this, and that it is a relatively recent development. There is little in this fact to lessen the bitterness of my strident rant about Baby Boomers.
1 FURMAN, GREGG, AND THE CREATION OF THE MODERN DEATH PENALTY
"Lack of Deterrent Effect" (p. 7).
"-- that the penalty will be reserved only for those who are among the worst of the worst" (p. 9).
"In 2005 the Court eliminated executions for those who were minors at the time of trial; in 2002 it eliminated their use for those with severe intellectual disabilities: (p. 23).
2 THE CAPITAL PUNISHMENT PROCESS
"With more than 700,000 homicides in the United States since 1976, there have been just over 8,000 death sentences in the modern era; . . ." (p. 34).
"In fact, just 16 percent of condemned inmates in the modern period have been executed (see chapter 7)" (p. 37).
3 HOMICIDE IN AMERICA
4 COMPARING HOMICIDES WITH EXECUTION CASES
". . . black on black homicides are unlikely to result in execution; black on white are particularly so (especially if the victim is female); and white on black crimes almost never result in execution" (p. 69).
"The fact that such a high percentage of women on death row were convicted of killing their abusive partners is particularly troubling. Men are rarely executed for the crime of killing their spouse" (p. 80).
5 CAPITAL -ELIGIBLE CRIMES
"While heinousness and torture tend to make a death sentence more likely, the tendency is very weak" (p. 90 - 91).
"The United States has executed 10 nontriggerman accomplices while sparing the life of the actual murders" (p. 110).
6 WHICH JURISDICTIONS EXECUTE AND WHICH ONES DON'T?
"Of the 3,143 counties in the United States only 474, or 15 percent, have carried out a single execution in the modern era" (p. 119).
"It is quite clear that there are no strong casual or statistical links tying homicides to executions, even in high-use death penalty stated" (p. 124).
7 HOW OFTEN ARE DEATH SENTENCES OVERTURNED?
"Perhaps surprisingly, the vast majority of death sentences have been overturned" (p. 139).
8 HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE?
9 HOW OFTEN ARE PEOPLE EXONERATED FROM DEATH ROW?
"However most exonerations occurred due to other factors, such as official nisconduct, perjury or false accusation, and other contributing elements presented in Table 9.1" (p. 178).
Cameron Todd Willingham and Carlos DeLuna on 185.
"The single most common cause of wrongful conviction for death row in Table 9.1 was official misconduct, which was present in three-quarters of all such cases" ( p. 188).
"Does the Constitution Allow the Execution of an Innocent Person?" (p. 189).
10 METHODS OF EXECUTION
". . . 7 percent of lethal injections were botched, compared with approximately 2 percent of electrocutions and 3 percent of hangings" (p. 211).
11. HOW OFTEN ARE EXECUTIONS DELAYED OR CANCELED?
12 MENTAL HEALTH
"In this chapter we explore the complex dynamics of mental illness, child abuse, substance abuse, and intellectual capacity; all are vastly over-represented among executed inmates compared to the general population.
13 HOW DEEP IS PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR THE DEATH PENALTY?
"The evidence is quite clear: the number of executions a given state has is almost unrelated to the level of support for capital punishment in the same state" (p. 283).
14 WHY DOES THE DEATH PENALTY COST SO MUCH?
15 DOES THE DEATH PENALTY DETER?
". . . the United States regularly sees more than 10,000 homicides per year, but with 1,422 executions over 40 years, just about 36 executions in an average year" (p. 312).
"In sum demonstrating a deterrent effect, or the lack thereof, is a tall
16 IS THE DEATH PENALTY DYING?
"After North Carolina passed the Racial Justice Act in 2009, it was later met with powerful opposition, and when legislative control switched to the Republican Party after 2012, the law was rescinded" (p. 327).
"In October 2015, Justice Scalia stated in an appearance at the University of Minnesota Law School that he would not be surprised if the Supreme Court struck down the death penalty " (p. 332).
17. DOES THE MODERN DEATH PENALTY MEET THE GOALS OF FURMAN?
"In sum, the evidence suggests we have failed both the 'narrow targeting' and the 'substantial proportions' standards that the justices collectively seemed to be expecting in Gregg" (p. 340).
I am reminded of my time as President of the Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. I went in thinking we would make a philosophical argument that it is never right to take the life of a defenseless nonthreatening human being: that was not a winning argument. I thought we might argue that the 1% to 4% odds that the person being executed was innocent would give death penalty advocates pause: that was not a winning argument. I thought that evidence that the penalty is applied arbitrarily and capriciously, and that we execute not the worst-of-the-worst, but those without the intellectual and financial resources to get out of the way, would be effective: that is not a winning argument.
It turns out that the winning argument, bereft of principle, is that the death penalty is more expensive than life-without-parole. This fine book confirms this, and that it is a relatively recent development. There is little in this fact to lessen the bitterness of my strident rant about Baby Boomers.
1 FURMAN, GREGG, AND THE CREATION OF THE MODERN DEATH PENALTY
"Lack of Deterrent Effect" (p. 7).
"-- that the penalty will be reserved only for those who are among the worst of the worst" (p. 9).
"In 2005 the Court eliminated executions for those who were minors at the time of trial; in 2002 it eliminated their use for those with severe intellectual disabilities: (p. 23).
2 THE CAPITAL PUNISHMENT PROCESS
"With more than 700,000 homicides in the United States since 1976, there have been just over 8,000 death sentences in the modern era; . . ." (p. 34).
"In fact, just 16 percent of condemned inmates in the modern period have been executed (see chapter 7)" (p. 37).
3 HOMICIDE IN AMERICA
4 COMPARING HOMICIDES WITH EXECUTION CASES
". . . black on black homicides are unlikely to result in execution; black on white are particularly so (especially if the victim is female); and white on black crimes almost never result in execution" (p. 69).
"The fact that such a high percentage of women on death row were convicted of killing their abusive partners is particularly troubling. Men are rarely executed for the crime of killing their spouse" (p. 80).
5 CAPITAL -ELIGIBLE CRIMES
"While heinousness and torture tend to make a death sentence more likely, the tendency is very weak" (p. 90 - 91).
"The United States has executed 10 nontriggerman accomplices while sparing the life of the actual murders" (p. 110).
6 WHICH JURISDICTIONS EXECUTE AND WHICH ONES DON'T?
"Of the 3,143 counties in the United States only 474, or 15 percent, have carried out a single execution in the modern era" (p. 119).
"It is quite clear that there are no strong casual or statistical links tying homicides to executions, even in high-use death penalty stated" (p. 124).
7 HOW OFTEN ARE DEATH SENTENCES OVERTURNED?
"Perhaps surprisingly, the vast majority of death sentences have been overturned" (p. 139).
8 HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE?
9 HOW OFTEN ARE PEOPLE EXONERATED FROM DEATH ROW?
"However most exonerations occurred due to other factors, such as official nisconduct, perjury or false accusation, and other contributing elements presented in Table 9.1" (p. 178).
Cameron Todd Willingham and Carlos DeLuna on 185.
"The single most common cause of wrongful conviction for death row in Table 9.1 was official misconduct, which was present in three-quarters of all such cases" ( p. 188).
"Does the Constitution Allow the Execution of an Innocent Person?" (p. 189).
10 METHODS OF EXECUTION
". . . 7 percent of lethal injections were botched, compared with approximately 2 percent of electrocutions and 3 percent of hangings" (p. 211).
11. HOW OFTEN ARE EXECUTIONS DELAYED OR CANCELED?
12 MENTAL HEALTH
"In this chapter we explore the complex dynamics of mental illness, child abuse, substance abuse, and intellectual capacity; all are vastly over-represented among executed inmates compared to the general population.
13 HOW DEEP IS PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR THE DEATH PENALTY?
"The evidence is quite clear: the number of executions a given state has is almost unrelated to the level of support for capital punishment in the same state" (p. 283).
14 WHY DOES THE DEATH PENALTY COST SO MUCH?
15 DOES THE DEATH PENALTY DETER?
". . . the United States regularly sees more than 10,000 homicides per year, but with 1,422 executions over 40 years, just about 36 executions in an average year" (p. 312).
"In sum demonstrating a deterrent effect, or the lack thereof, is a tall
16 IS THE DEATH PENALTY DYING?
"After North Carolina passed the Racial Justice Act in 2009, it was later met with powerful opposition, and when legislative control switched to the Republican Party after 2012, the law was rescinded" (p. 327).
"In October 2015, Justice Scalia stated in an appearance at the University of Minnesota Law School that he would not be surprised if the Supreme Court struck down the death penalty " (p. 332).
17. DOES THE MODERN DEATH PENALTY MEET THE GOALS OF FURMAN?
"In sum, the evidence suggests we have failed both the 'narrow targeting' and the 'substantial proportions' standards that the justices collectively seemed to be expecting in Gregg" (p. 340).
April 2, 2025
it is extremely difficult to read this book and walk away with the opinion that the U.S. death penalty works. there is such a lack of information surrounding this system which makes reading and sharing this book important and intentional work.
October 23, 2023
I read this book as part of Frank Baumgartner's death penalty class at UNC Chapel Hill. It is the perfect balance of statistics and explanation. The book is a great way to gain an in depth understanding of the history and impact of capital punishment in a short timeframe.
November 18, 2025
This book is fire.
Read
August 24, 2018364.66097 B3485 2018
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews