Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T00:10:44.605Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Frankenstein's Monster: A Review of Recent Literature on the Death Penalty in the United states

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2008

Jon Yorke
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Image of the first page of this content. For PDF version, please use the ‘Save PDF’ preceeding this image.'
Type
Review Articles
Information
International & Comparative Law Quarterly , Volume 54 , Issue 4 , October 2005 , pp. 1032 - 1037
Copyright
Copyright © British Institute of International and Comparative Law 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Whitman does not view every European country, but is selective and concentrates on punishment practices in France and Germany with periodic references to England

2 Both Justices Brennan and Marshall were staunch advocates for the abolition of the death penalty. For examples of their dictums see, Justice Marshall (plurality opinion) in Furman v Georgia, 408 US 238 (1972); Justice Brennan (dissenting judgment) in McClesky v Kemp 481 US 279 (1987).

3 Zimring also includes an overview of international trends throughout his work. For a book length consideration of the death penalty in international law see, Hood, RogerThe Death Penalty: A Worldwide Perspective (3rd ednOxford 2003); andGoogle ScholarSchabas, WilliamThe Abolition of the Death Penalty in International Law (3rd ednCambridge 2003).Google Scholar

4 James Whitman is Professor of Comparative and Foreign Law at Yale University, but his first degree was in history, and his command of historical sources and how they apply to his arguments is exceptional. Both historians and lawyers will benefit from this book.

5 Zimring 89.

6 Whitman 5.

7 Beccaria, CesareOn Crimes and Punishment (1764), trans, H, Paolucci (1963) (Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis).Google Scholar

8 A pillory was a wooden framework with holes for the head and hands of the offender. It secured the offender for public ridicule.

9 Whitman 101.

10 This was clearly one of the reasons for South Africa abolishing the death penalty in 1995. See Makwanyane v President of the Republic of South Africa, 1995 (3) SA 391 (CC)

11 As this review only touches the surface of the issues presented in the two books, it is recommended that those interested in the death penalty in the United States, or just criminal justice, to consider the complete texts individually.

12 Renteln covers ‘cultural conflicts’ involving homicide, children, drugs, animals, marriage, attire and the dead.

13 Renteln 6.

14 Arguments for enculturation are based on the fact that ‘culture shapes cognition and conduct’. See Renteln, 6.

15 Renteln 7.

16 Renteln 23.

17 Ng v Canada (No. 469/1991) UN Doc A/49/60, vol II.

18 Renteln 40.

19 See also, Jon Yorke Terrorism, Extradition and the Death Penalty in Africa (2004) <www.biicl.org/deathpenalty> and id Europe's Judicial Inquiry in Extradition Cases: Closing the Door on the Death Penalty (2004) EL Rev 29 (4) 546–56.

20 Renteln 47.