Peculiar Institution: America's Death Penalty in an Age of Abolition

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David Garland (Arthur T. Vanderbilt Professor of Law and Professor of Sociology at New York University)

Peculiar Institution

America's Death Penalty in an Age of Abolition

David Garland (Arthur T. Vanderbilt Professor of Law and Professor of Sociology at New York University)

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English

Oxford University Press
15 October 2010

Ethical issues: capital punishment; Penology & punishment; Law & society; Criminology: legal aspects

For many Europeans, the persistence of America's death penalty is a stark reminder of American otherness. The practice of state killing is an archaic relic, a hollow symbol that accomplishes nothing but reflects a puritanical, punitive culture - bloodthirsty in its pursuit of retribution. In debating capital punishment, the usual rhetoric points to America's deviance from the western norm: civilized abolition and barbaric retention; 'us' and 'them'.

This remarkable new study by a leading social thinker sweeps aside the familiar story and offers a compelling interpretation of the culture of American punishment. It shows that the same forces that led to the death penalty's abolition in Europe once made America a pioneer of reform. That democracy and civilization are not the enemies of capital punishment, though liberalism and humanitarianism are. Making sense of today's differences requires a better understanding of American society and its punishments than the standard rhetoric allows.

Taking us deep inside the world of capital punishment, the book offers a detailed picture of a peculiar institution - its cultural meaning and symbolic force for supporters and abolitionists, its place in the landscape of American politics and attitudes to crime, its constitutional status and the legal struggles that define it. Understanding the death penalty requires that we understand how American society is put together - the legacy of racial violence, the structures of social power, and the commitment to radical, local majority rule. Shattering current stereotypes, the book forces us to rethink our understanding of the politics of death and of punishment in America and beyond.

By: David Garland (Arthur T. Vanderbilt Professor of Law and Professor of Sociology at New York University)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 237mm, Width: 163mm, Spine: 31mm
Weight: 1g
ISBN: 9780199594993
ISBN 10: 0199594996
Pages: 428
Publication Date: 15 October 2010
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational , A / AS level , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

David Garland is Professor of Sociology at New York University. He is one of the leading sociologists writing on punishment and crime control, his major works including Punishment and Modern Society, and The Culture of Control.

Reviews for Peculiar Institution: America's Death Penalty in an Age of Abolition

Garland's readable book is nonetheless a major contribution to our understanding not only of capital punishment in America, but also of the relationship between punishment, state and society. Nicola Lacey, Times Literary Supplement Some of [Garland's] eminently readable prose reminds me of Alexis de Tocqueville's nineteenth-century narrative about his visit to America; it has the objective, thought-provoking quality of an astute observer rather than that of an interested participant in American politics...I commend [Garland's comprehensive analysis] to participants in the political process. John Paul Stevens, The New York Review of Books This is one of the most readable and enlightening works of sociology we've come across of late and certainly worth adding to your library as the world continues to move towards eventual international abolition across the world. Philip Taylor MBE, Richmond Green Chambers