Forgiveness, mercy, and clemency / edited by Austin Sarat and Nasser Hussain.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Sarat, Austin.

Hussain, Nasser, 1965-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Capital punishment--Moral and ethical aspects.

Capital punishment.

Criminal justice, Administration of--United States.

Criminal justice, Administration of.

Clemency.

Pardon.

Physical Description:

238 p.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Arguments for forgiveness, mercy, and clemency abound. These arguments flourish in organized religion, fiction, philosophy, and law as well as in everyday conversations of daily life among parents and children, teachers and students, and criminals and those who judge them. As common as these arguments are, we are often left with an incomplete understanding of what we mean when we speak about them. This volume examines the registers of individual psychology, religious belief, social practice, and political power circulating in and around those who forgive, grant mercy, or pose clemency power. The authors suggest that, in many ways, necessary examinations of the questions of forgiveness and pardon and the connection between mercy and justice are only just beginning.

Contents:

Toward new theoretical perspectives on forgiveness, mercy, and clemency : an introduction / Nasser Hussain and Austin Sarat

Tempering or tampering? Mercy and the administration of criminal justice / Carol S. Steiker

Should mercy have a place in clemency decisions? / Daniel T. Kobil

The merciful state / Linda Ross Meyer

Revising the past : on the metaphysics of repentance, forgiveness, and pardon / Meir Dan-Cohen

Comparative national blaming : W.G. Sebald on the bombing of Germany / Bruce Robbins

Keeping the peace / Adam Sitze.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-8047-6792-0

1-4356-0884-4