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Title: Ultimate Punishment : A Lawyer's Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty by Scott Turow ISBN: 0-374-12873-1 Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.57 (14 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Well-researched, Well-written Book
Comment: Scott Turow was one of 14 members of a Commission named by the then Governor of Illinois, George Ryan to study and make recommendations on the state's death penalty law. This book is a result of that study. Turow discusses the usual arguments for and against this ultimate penalty. Some of his findings conclusions are expected; others were surprising, at least to me. The usual conclusions are here-- the vast majority of individuals convicted of crimes are guilty. Whether you get the death penalty or not depends on where you live. You are much more likely to get the death penalty in rural areas than in large urban areas. To quote Turow, other factors are ". . . race, gender, geography, who the lawyers and jurors are, and the sheer serendipity of circumstances. . ." Some people are guilty of the crime of having the wrong defense lawyers, and, of course, of being poor. Turow discusses the case of Chris Thomas, a death row inmate, who had been defended by two private attorneys under contract with the local public defender's office that paid them $30,000 per year to defend 103 cases, one of which had to be a capital case. The two attorneys worked together on Thomas' case. One of them had never had any role in a death penalty case; the other had been standby counsel for a defendant, already under a death sentence in Ohio, who had represented himself. The attorneys therefore mounted a six hundred dollar defense for their client. I had always thought that black people are more likely to get the death penalty than whites. Not so, according to Turow; black people just get convicted more. In Illinois 70% of all persons convicted and sentence for first-degree murder are black; their victims have been 60% black. Once convicted, however, white murderers are sentenced to death at a rate two and one half times that for black murderers. Turow's conclusion is that white people tend to kill other whites and that "choosing a white victim--turns out to be the controlling variable." Turow also points out though that because wealth, power and status for the most part still is in the hands of white people, that race of course is a factor.
Some of Turow's chapters are "Convicting the Innocent","Bad Faith", "The Victims","Deterrence", "Redemption", "Will They Murder Again." I was blown away to learn that some death penalty advocates can live with the notion of occasionally executing the innocent and make the comparison of childhood inoculations and driving an automobile. The overall good outweighs the risks. Turow disagrees with this logic, saying that the prospect of executing someone who is "blameless cases a special pall over the death penalty." Turow discusses with great compassion the plight of victims' families and loved ones. "What made the deepest impression on me was my eventual recognition that losing a loved one to a murder is unlike any other blow delivered in our often-cruel lives." He concludes, however, that the expressed desires of survivors should not be permitted in deciding who gets the death penalty.
Turow, who described himself as a "death penalty agnostic" when he began this study ultimately became a believer against the death penalty although he respects the judgment of the greater number of U. S. citizens who believe the death penalty should be given for the most horrific of crimes. Turow's conversion certainly came not for religious reasons. Unlike Sister Helen Prejean, he maintains if his job called for it, he could "push the botton" if the crime were heinous enough. Even though Turow comes down ultimately against the death penalty, he says "I admit I am still attracted to a death penalty that would be available for the crimes of unimaginable dimensions. . . The pivotal question. . . is whether a system of justice can be constructed that reaches over the rare, right cases, without also occasionally condemning the innocent or the undeserving." It is Turow's belief that the answer to that question is "no."
As you would expect from someone who is also a novelist, Turow writes with a great deal of flair in this insightful, well-reasoned book. Whether it will change anyone's opinion, who's to say? Everybody has opinions on abortion, gun control, gay marriage, the death penalty, etc. although people cannot express any logical reason their their views. Regardless of whether this book changes the way you think about the death penalty, you will come away from it better informed and should have an opinion you can back up with facts.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great Reckoning on Ultimate Penalty
Comment: Famous novelist Scott Turow, an attorney by training, wrote a very sensitive, honest and well-thought out book on capital punishment. As a member of Illinois Capital Punishment Commission he had ample opportunity to think about the pro's and con's of the issue.
His bottom line is this: there are indeed those cases (mostly in the cases of pathological serial killers) that might warrant the death penalty. However, there are so many cases of capital punishment dished out erronously or delivered to those defendants too poor to hire top-notch legal representation, that it does more harm than good in the name of justice.
The pivotal question, as he puts it, "is whether a system of justice can be constructed that reaches only the rare, right cases, without also occasionally condemning the innocent or the undeserving." Capital punishment, in Turow's judgement, does not satify these conditions.
He supports his argument by giving appropriate examples like the case of Chris Thomas who is "condemned to die because he is poor and belligerent, while the likes of the Menendez brothers, who shotgunned their parents for their millions, or the Unabomber ... get life."
Only 115 pages but a very good and seminal read. Highly recommended.
Rating: 5
Summary: Governor Ryan's unprecedented commutation death row inmates
Comment: Heard ULTIMATE PUNISHMENT, written and read by novelist Scott
Turow . . . it is a sobering, nonfiction account of Turow's service on the Illinois commission that investigated the administration of the death penalty and influenced Governor George Ryan's unprecedented commutation of the sentences of 164 death row inmates on his last day in office.
I remember in 2003 when I read about the above how I wondered,
"What gives?" . . . although not a strong supporter of the death
penalty (then), I still believed that it did serve a useful purpose in certain instances--and it was a definite deterrent to future crimes of a heinous nature.
Now, after reading Turow's latest effort, I'm not at all sure . . . I've become convinced that there are serious flaws in the criminal justice system . . . furthermore, I realize now that too many innocent people have been wrongly convicted of murder with race or lack of income often being the only reason this happens.
The author provides many examples, supporting his analysis
of the issue . . . this one really struck home: [Chris Thomas is]
"condemned to die because he is poor and belligerent, while
the likes of the Menendez brothers, who shotgunned their
parents for their millions, or the Unabomber . . . get life."
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Title: Reversible Errors by Scott Turow ISBN: 0446612626 Publisher: Warner Vision Pub. Date: 01 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Wrong Men: America's Epidemic of Wrongful Death Row Convictions by Stanley Cohen ISBN: 0786712589 Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Death Penalty Cases, Second Edition by Barry Latzer ISBN: 0750675942 Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann Pub. Date: 15 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: The Death Penalty: An American History by Stuart Banner ISBN: 0674010833 Publisher: Harvard University Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Personal Injuries by Scott Turow ISBN: 0446608602 Publisher: Warner Vision Pub. Date: 01 December, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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