Review
"Highly recommended for general readers, undergraduates, and above." -- Choice
Review
“In this interesting and provocative book O'Shea has compiled scattered statistical information on past and current death row inmates. Though the main focus is on women and the death penalty, the factual accounts provide unforgettable insights into the darkest secrets of the criminal justice system in carrying out executions.... This disturbing book makes readers revisit and rethink the execution of human beings. At times, this reviewer felt he had a front row seat witnessing the emotions and feelings of women and men sentenced to death.... Simply stated, the book begins to unravel on an emotional level the arguments for the death penalty. Highly recommended for general readers, undergraduates, and above.”–Choice
“[P]oignant and vital ... this work demands that we give due attention to a group of women long overlooked by criminologists and historians, and about which we continue to know very little: women sentenced to death. O'Shea provides a good compendium of women on death row and a useful starting point for scholars working on capital punishment history.”–Journal of American Studies
“O'Shea's vivid and fluid literary style enhances her prodigious research into state laws and political attitudes that sustain the death penalty.”–National Women's Studies Association Journal
“The study of women's experiences is described in such detail that it provides readers with an understanding of the circumstances surrounding either their deaths or, for those currently on death row, the decisions for the death penalty.”–Journal of Criminal Justice
“[P]oignant and vital ... this work demands that we give due attention to a group of women long overlooked by criminologists and historians, and about which we continue to know very little: women sentenced to death. O'Shea provides a good compendium of women on death row and a useful starting point for scholars working on capital punishment history.”–
“O'Shea's vivid and fluid literary style enhances her prodigious research into state laws and political attitudes that sustain the death penalty.”–
“The study of women's experiences is described in such detail that it provides readers with an understanding of the circumstances surrounding either their deaths or, for those currently on death row, the decisions for the death penalty.”–
