Women and the Death Penalty in the United States, 1900-1998

(Hardback)

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Using a historical framework, this book offers not only the penal history of the death penalty in the states that have given women the death penalty, but it also retells the stories of the women who have been executed and those currently awaiting their fate on death row. This work takes a historical look at women and the death penalty in the United States from 1900 to 1998. It gives the reader a look at the penal codes in the various states regarding the death penalty and the personal stories of women who have been executed or who are currently on death row. As Americans continue to debate the enforcement of the death penalty, the issues of race and gender as they relate to the death penalty are also debated. This book offers a unique perspective to a recurring sociopolitical issue.

Reviews

"[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
[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
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
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
"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
"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

Author Bio

KATHLEEN A. O'SHEA is a social worker who does criminal justice research on female prisoners with a focus on women and the death penalty. She is the editor of Female Offenders: An Annotated Bibliography published by Greenwood Press in 1996.