Death Penalty A 'Strange Social Fact' Requiring An 'Explanation': David Garland's New Book 'Peculiar Institution'

harvardpress.typepad.com:

In its discussion of America's death penalty, Peculiar Institution diverges from the familiar cultural script that shapes most of our conversation. Instead of treating capital punishment as a moral dilemma to be debated, a policy problem to be resolved, or a constitutional question to be settled, the book approaches the institution as a strange social fact that stands in need of explanation.

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Comments

[Christina R Moore]

02:07 PM on 10/06/2010

I'm very intrigued by the authors title "Peculiar Institution" The death penalty is a topic of discussion that has been around for many years, and isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Many people don't have a lot of education on our countries death penalty, they just go with what they 'think' they know. http://www.criminaljusticedegreeschools.com/10-things-worth-knowing-about-the-death-penalty/ - This list might give you some basic knowledge.

[Randolph Greer]

05:21 PM on 10/04/2010

Whatever else it may be , the death penalty is not a "peculiar institution ."And further more , it needs no further explanation . Either in the Western or the Eastern World . The death penalty is as old as mankind and it has seen only two fundamental alterations in all of human history . The first , is the western system of justice which prolongs the carrying out of the sentence . And the second is the identity of those who have the power to execute it and those who don't . This second one is an ever changing identity which varies only with respect to who possesses the power and under what circumstance . In this aspect , the death penalty is one of the few social changes which has actually devolved over this history . Whereas it used to be as common as all other social aspects , it is today , quite uncommon . This change will either lead to its extinction altogether , or a more efficient use of it will be created . The only thing certain , is that the identities of those executing and those being executed will be changed .

[Reno Fickler]

08:38 PM on 10/01/2010

Does the 28 year old who sodomized and murdered the 10 year old boy deserve to die?
What if was your 10 year old boy?
The necessity and ultimate usage of capital punishment borders on religious considerations. 'Thou shalt not kill' is only surpassed by 'Thou shalt not allow to live.'
The punishment has to fit the crime. In some cases there is no other choice. Death.

[eric14]

06:48 PM on 10/01/2010

The use of 'strange' is strange and the use of 'peculiar' peculiar when writer makes so much of not offering opinion, in my opinion.