Title
Gruesome spectacles [electronic resource] : botched executions and America's death penalty / Austin Sarat ; with Katherine Blumstein [and three others].
ISBN
9780804791724 electronic book
9780804789165
Published
Stanford, California : Stanford Law Books, 2014.
Copyright
©2014
Language
English
Description
1 online resource (273 pages)
Call Number
HV8699.U5 .S268 2014eb
Dewey Decimal Classification
364.660973
Summary
"Gruesome Spectacles is a history of botched, mismanaged, and painful executions in the U.S. from 1890 to 2010. Using new research, Sarat traces the evolution of methods of execution that were employed during this time, and were meant to improve on the methods that went before, from hanging or firing squad to electrocution to gas and lethal injection. Even though each of these technologies was developed to "perfect" state killing by decreasing the chance of a cruel death, an estimated three percent of all American executions went awry in one way or another. Sarat recounts the gripping and truly gruesome stories of some of these deaths - stories obscured by history and to some extent, the popular press."--dust jacket.
Note
Includes index.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
Source of Description
Description based on print version record.
The mere extinguishment of life? : technological efficiency, botched executions and the legitimacy of capital punishment in the United States
A clumsy, inefficient, inhuman thing : death by hanging
When science fails : electrocution
A short and unhappy history : the gas chamber
"How enviable a quiet death . . ." : lethal injection
Botched executions and the struggle to end capital punishment.
