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Effigy : images of capital defendents / Allison M. Cotton.
Van Pelt Library KF9227.C2 C68 2008
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Cotton, Allison M., 1969-
- Series:
- Issues in crime & justice (Lanham, Md.)
- Issues in crime & justice
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Capital punishment--United States.
- Capital punishment.
- United States.
- Defense (Criminal procedure)--United States.
- Defense (Criminal procedure).
- Prosecution--United States.
- Prosecution.
- Jury--United States.
- Jury.
- Physical Description:
- xvii, 212 pages ; 24 cm.
- Other Title:
- Effigy : images of capital defendants
- Place of Publication:
- Lanham : Lexington Books, [2008]
- Summary:
- Effigy examines the images of a capital defendant portrayed during the guilt and penalty phases of a capital trial, the trial tactics used by attorneys to impart these images, and the consequences that result from the jury's attempt to reconcile contradictory images to place one in permanent record as a verdict. These images are starkly contrasted against the backdrop of a brutal murder in which the stereotypes of American fear are realized: Donta Page, the defendant, is an African American male from a low-income segment of society while Peyton Tuthill, the victim, was a Caucasian female from a middle-income suburb.
- The prosecuting attorneys depict the defendant as a "savage beast," juxtaposing their image against that of a "troubled youth" as Page is portrayed by the defense attorneys. Slowly and methodically developed as figures with diametrically opposed features, none of which overlap or congeal, both of the images are portrayed as real (buttressed by the testimony of witnesses) rather than constructed. The jury is expected to render a verdict that accepts one and rejects the other: there is no middle ground.
- Contents:
- The death penalty in the United States and how juries operate
- The importance of defining the defendant
- The legal fight
- The guilt phase : how the defense/prosecution saw their mission
- The penalty phase : the prosecution's/defense's mission
- Who is the defendant? : the prosecution's/defense's answer
- The impact on jurors.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-203) and index.
- ISBN:
- 9780739125519
- 0739125516
- OCLC:
- 214322856
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