Wrongful capital convictions and the legitimacy of the death penalty / Karen S. Miller.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miller, Karen S., 1968-

Series:

Criminal justice (LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC)

Criminal justice recent scholarship

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Capital punishment--United States.

Capital punishment.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (193 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York : LFB Scholarly Pub. LLC, 2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The American system of capital punishment is facing a legitimacy crisis due to a large number of death row exonerations in recent years. In the wake of these exonerations, the number of new death sentences shrank to a 30 year low and surveys have revealed a decrease in public support for capital punishment. This book describes the crisis confronting the system and explores how newspaper reports of 29 exonerations functioned to legitimize and relegitimize the death penalty in light of these delegitimating forces. By applying Habermas' theory of legitimation crisis through narrative and qualitative content analysis, this book represents a new approach to media research.

Contents:

The legitimation crisis

Constructing legitimacy

Investigating the issues

The cases in the news

Legitimizing the death penalty

Delegitimizing the death penalty

Relegitimizing capital punishment

Contributions and conclusions.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-152) and index.

ISBN:

1-59332-219-4

OCLC:

568006501