An impassioned rejection of Americans' knee-jerk reaction to the rise of violent crime, this book shows how executions fail to defer crime and reveals shocking statistics about injustices perpetrated in the administrations of the death penalty in America .
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Few leaders in American public life can speak with the moral authority of Jesse Jackson. Regardless of what you think of his politics or rhetorical style, Jackson can take debate to places where most public leaders dare not tread. In Legal Lynching, Jackson bravely takes aim at capital punishment. The argument he makes is not all bluster and bravado or simple preaching to the choir. Jackson recites the specifics of cases in which innocent men were sentenced to death--and even executed. He does not deny the popularity of the punishment, rather the purpose of his argument is to make it less popular. The racial injustice of sentencing and the application of capital punishment come in for particular attention, as Jackson sketches the moral case for reforming the American criminal justice system to conform with what he sees as morally sound notions of justice and human rights.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Jackson has performed many functions over the years, among them preacher, prophet, and political candidate. But this is his first book: an accessible recapitulation of the arguments that have convinced most of the world's industrialized nations to end capital punishment. Using vivid factual incidents to humanize statistics and legal analysis, Jackson describes capital punishment's history and effective alternatives to "legal lynching" (notably, variants on life-without-parole); examines the constitutional, moral, and theological questions that the death penalty raises; traces the impact of geography, race, sex, and economic status on U.S. sentencing patterns; explains how new limits on habeas corpus appeals increase the risk that innocent people will be executed; presents the research controversy over whether capital punishment does more to deter criminals or to brutalize society; and explores the blend of misinformation, doubts, and prejudice underlying the support for capital punishment displayed in public opinion polls. Though he has sometimes been a polarizing figure, here, as in his political campaigns, Jackson addresses all Americans, sharing his profound conviction that "because it is morally wrong, but also . . . unevenly and unfairly implemented, . . . humanity can no longer tolerate the death penalty." Mary Carroll
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Case Against the Death Penalty,
By
This review is from: Legal Lynching: Racism, Injustice and the Death Penalty (Paperback)
Jesse Jackson has written a wonderful argument against the use of the death penalty. It is too bad that most of those who need convincing will not read this, and those who do will disregard all information or logic to maintain their support for the death penalty and their demonizing of its victims. Jackson provides interesting tidbits of information. For example, when death penalty supporters pointed out a decrease in murder in the two weeks following the first execution after the Supreme Court's moritorium, Jackson replied that the decrease occured only in the Eastern states, and was due to major blizzards at the time.Jackson points out what should be obvious to everyone, that black persons and poor persons are more likely to get the death penalty than the white or rich. The representation of poor defendants in court has been terrible. Jury selection may exclude persons who oppose the death penalty. Since many opponents base their opposition on concern about executing an innocent, while many supporters are wilfully blind about the possibility of a person's innocence; that means death penalty juries are more likely to convict on the flimsiest of evidence. Jackson discusses the Ehrlich study of 1975, the study most prominently cited to ostensibly show a crime-reduction effect of the death penalty. He discussed various criticisms, and pointed out that no other study has repeated the results, but he left out the most damning indictment of Ehrlich's study: the strong dependence of the results on the last year of the study. (Finkelstein and Levin, Staticstics for Lawyers (1990) pp. 446 and 534) If the final year analyzed was 1969, 1968, or 1967, the result was about eight murders reduced per execution. If 1966, seven murders reduced. If 1965, 4.5 murders reduced. If 1964, 1.5 murders reduced. If the study ended earlier in the 1960s, the results would have been two and eight murders INCREASED for each execution. That kind of result was predictable from Ehrlich's use of logarithms of the numbers of executions. In the years 1965 - 1969, there were seven, one, two, zero, and zero executions. Earlier years had double-digit or triple-digit numbers of executions. Using logarithms strongly emphasizes lower numbers over higher numbers. (Decreasing from 200 to 100 has the same effect of decreasing from 2 to 1.) In any case, studies in which the results vary with endpoint are worthless. I believe that the Ehrlich study illustrates a fundamental difference between physical science and other fields of study, such as economics or law. In the sciences, the mathematical error might have been caught by peer review. Even if the study got by peer review, once the error was exposed, the consensus would be to dismiss the study and forget about it except as an example of bad science. But in law and politics, the trend has been to cite the study prominantly and then possibly cite criticism of the study, letting the reader decide for himself. Supporters and opponents take sides based on their proclivities and ignore logic from the other side. In discussing public opinion regarding the death penalty, Jackson tells of a faction of death-penalty supporters who dig in and retrench whcn confronted with negative facts on the death penalty. That faction truly does exist. Some can be found on the newsgroup alt.activism.death-penalty, where they persistently and wilfully disregard evidence of innocent persons being executed, or that execution doesn't deter murder. These pro-death-penalty persons are little more than malicious know-nothings. I saw one post (in 1994) that replied to an article posted about the innocence of Roger Coleman, that summarized the article as something like, "Account of Coleman's brutal murder of Wanda McCoy deleted." Another post around the same time responded to statistics showing a drop in murders after Canada eliminated the death penalty, and amazingly asserted that the drop would have been greater had Canada not eliminated the death penalty. There was absolutely no basis for such an assertion in the statistics. In fact, when the governor of Illinois issued a moritorium on executions, because of too many innocents having been convicted, our estimed Texas governor and future Republican presidential nominee, George W. Bush, not only refused to join the moritorium, but went ahead to execute an innocent man March 1st, Odell Barnes.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the most convincing books I have ever read.,
By saeed@nwu.edu (Evanston, IL) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Legal Lynching: Racism, Injustice and the Death Penalty (Hardcover)
For all you readers who strongly support the death penalty, I urge you to read this book. Never have I seen or heard such a marvelous argument against the immorality inherent in the death penalty. Also, after you have read this book, feel free to e-mail me so we can chat about it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
SAD, BUT TRUE,
By A Customer
This review is from: Legal Lynching: Racism, Injustice and the Death Penalty (Hardcover)
Jesse Jackson does a wonderful job of not only appealing to the emotions of the readers, but to stun with great statistics to support the truth that the phrase 'justice system' is, in fact, an oxymoron. Rev. Jesse Jackson reflects accurately the need for reform, and even provides names and addresses of a great number of organizations nation-wide so that readers can get involved to fight the injustices of the criminal justice system. It is not only a great book for those who are at all interested the criminal justice system, but those who are interested in politics, race-relations, and history. He takes a broader look at the death penalty than most of the other articles and in-depth analyses that I've read. I would recommend this book to anyone who is at all interested in learning the truth about race-relations in the United States.
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