Race, class, and the death penalty : capital punishment in American history / Howard W. Allen and Jerome M. Clubb ; with the assistance of Vincent A. Lacey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Allen, Howard W., 1931-

Contributor:

Clubb, Jerome M., 1928-

Lacey, Vincent A.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Capital punishment--United States--History.

Capital punishment.

Discrimination in capital punishment--United States--History.

Discrimination in capital punishment.

Discrimination in criminal justice administration--United States--History.

Discrimination in criminal justice administration.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (255 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Albany, N.Y. : State University of New York Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In Race, Class, and the Death Penalty, Howard W. Allen and Jerome M. Clubb examine historical trends in the use of capital punishment in the United States. Employing empirical data, the authors explore how frequently the death penalty has been used and how its frequency of use has changed, where the death penalty was used most often, the offenses charged, and the characteristics of the executed. Not surprisingly, their findings indicate that minority groups—particularly African Americans and those of lower social and economic status in general—have been executed in disproportionate numbers. The authors conclude that while the use of the death penalty has progressively declined, and the range of capital offenses has narrowed, disparities in the use of capital punishment between social groups and regions that appeared in the colonial period have persisted into the twenty-first century.

Contents:

The death penalty in national perspective

The colonial and revolutionary era

The early republic, 1786-1865

The south and the border, 1866-1945

The northeast, 1866-1945

The western regions, 1836-1945

Social perspectives

The death penalty after 1945

The death penalty in American history.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 205-227) and index.

ISBN:

9780791478349

0791478343

9781435648623

1435648625

OCLC:

232652589