In the state of Georgia, 1025 men and women are known to have been hanged or electrocuted for capital crimes in the century after the Civil War. Based on more than twenty years of investigative research, this chronological record of these legal executions was pieced together from diverse sources in and outside of the state, with many details never before made public. The author documents the facts as they occurred without delving into the politics of capital punishment.

In the state of Georgia, 1025 men and women are known to have been hanged or electrocuted for capital crimes in the century after the Civil War. Based on more than twenty years of investigative research, this chronological record of these legal executions was pieced together from diverse sources in and outside of the state, with many details never before made public. The author documents the facts as they occurred without delving into the politics of capital punishment.

"Follows a homicide case committed in Georgia in 1927 from the crime to the executions of those convicted of the crime almost a year later. Along the way, the narrative highlights a number of issues impacting the death penalty process, many of which are still relevant in the modern era of capital punishment in the United States ... Moreover, the case in question illustrates a range of themes prevalent in post-Progressive Georgia and brings them together to create a broader narrative. Thus, issues of race, class, and gender emerge from what was supposed to be a neutral process; ... demonstrates that capital punishment cannot be administered in an untainted fashion, but its finality demands that it must be"--From Athenaeum@UGA website.

Many studies during the past few decades have sought to determine whether the death penalty has any deterrent effect on homicide rates. Researchers have reached widely varying, even contradictory, conclusions. Some studies have concluded that the threat of capital punishment deters murders, saving large numbers of lives; other studies have concluded that executions actually increase homicides; still others, that executions have no effect on murder rates. Commentary among researchers, advocates, and policymakers on the scientific validity of the findings has sometimes been acrimonious. Against this backdrop, the National Research Council report Deterrence and the Death Penalty assesses whether the available evidence provides a scientific basis for answering questions of if and how the death penalty affects homicide rates. This new report from the Committee on Law and Justice concludes that research to date on the effect of capital punishment on homicide rates is not useful in determining whether the death penalty increases, decreases, or has no effect on these rates. The key question is whether capital punishment is less or more effective as a deterrent than alternative punishments, such as a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Yet none of the research that has been done accounted for the possible effect of noncapital punishments on homicide rates. The report recommends new avenues of research that may provide broader insight into any deterrent effects from both capital and noncapital punishments.

New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice Drawing on never-before-published original source detail, the epic story of two of the most consequential, and largely forgotten, moments in Supreme Court history. For two hundred years, the constitutionality of capital punishment had been axiomatic. But in 1962, Justice Arthur Goldberg and his clerk Alan Dershowitz dared to suggest otherwise, launching an underfunded band of civil rights attorneys on a quixotic crusade. In 1972, in a most unlikely victory, the Supreme Court struck down Georgia’s death penalty law in Furman v. Georgia. Though the decision had sharply divided the justices, nearly everyone, including the justices themselves, believed Furman would mean the end of executions in America. Instead, states responded with a swift and decisive showing of support for capital punishment. As anxiety about crime rose and public approval of the Supreme Court declined, the stage was set in 1976 for Gregg v. Georgia, in which the Court dramatically reversed direction. A Wild Justice is an extraordinary behind-the-scenes look at the Court, the justices, and the political complexities of one of the most racially charged and morally vexing issues of our time.

Before constitutional regulation -- The Supreme Court steps in -- The invisibility of race in the constitutional revolution -- Between the Supreme Court and the states -- The failures of regulation -- An unsustainable system? -- Recurring patterns in constitutional regulation -- The future of the American death penalty -- Life after death

Forty years and 1,400 executions after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty constitutional, eminent political scientist Frank Baumgartner and a team of younger scholars have collaborated to assess the empirical record and provide a definitive account of how the death penalty has been implemented. A Statistical Portrait of the Death Penalty shows that all the flaws that caused the Supreme Court to invalidate the death penalty in 1972 remain and indeed that new problems have arisen. Far from "perfecting the mechanism" of death, the modern system has failed.

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • A deeply reported, searingly honest portrait of the death penalty in Texas—and what it tells us about crime and punishment in America “If you’re one of those people who despair that nothing changes, and dream that something can, this is a story of how it does.”—Anand Giridharadas, The New York Times Book Review WINNER OF THE J. ANTHONY LUKAS AWARD In 1972, the United States Supreme Court made a surprising ruling: the country’s death penalty system violated the Constitution. The backlash was swift, especially in Texas, where executions were considered part of the cultural fabric, and a dark history of lynching was masked by gauzy visions of a tough-on-crime frontier. When executions resumed, Texas quickly became the nationwide leader in carrying out the punishment. Then, amid a larger wave of criminal justice reform, came the death penalty’s decline, a trend so durable that even in Texas the punishment appears again close to extinction. In Let the Lord Sort Them, Maurice Chammah charts the rise and fall of capital punishment through the eyes of those it touched. We meet Elsa Alcala, the orphaned daughter of a Mexican American family who found her calling as a prosecutor in the nation’s death penalty capital, before becoming a judge on the state’s highest court. We meet Danalynn Recer, a lawyer who became obsessively devoted to unearthing the life stories of men who committed terrible crimes, and fought for mercy in courtrooms across the state. We meet death row prisoners—many of them once-famous figures like Henry Lee Lucas, Gary Graham, and Karla Faye Tucker—along with their families and the families of their victims. And we meet the executioners, who struggle openly with what society has asked them to do. In tracing these interconnected lives against the rise of mass incarceration in Texas and the country as a whole, Chammah explores what the persistence of the death penalty tells us about forgiveness and retribution, fairness and justice, history and myth. Written with intimacy and grace, Let the Lord Sort Them is the definitive portrait of a particularly American institution.

In 1873, Georgia Governor James M. Smith insured that justice prevailed in Preston, Georgia. Enoch F. Spann and his paramour Susan Eberhart were tried and convicted in the murder of Spann's elderly, invalid wife. One year later, the two were hanged. But, it was not so easy to execute a woman in Georgia, especially a white woman. In the case of Susan Eberhart, the public cried out for mercy, but to no avail. A number of people were affected by the Governor's decision to withhold clemency, including the Governor himself. This tragic story exemplifies the classic struggle between justice and mercy. However in this case, the underlying themes of poverty, ignorance and mental illness complicate the struggle. The "Atlanta Daily Sun," a publication owned by Alexander H. Stephens, (former Vice-President of the Confederacy), described this story as "the most interesting case of crime that ever occurred in Georgia, and which is certainly one of the strangest in history of crimes. May we never hear of the like again." But, we did hear of the case again. The story of Susan Eberhart is one that simply "won't die." Her name continues to be invoked whenever a woman is scheduled for execution in Georgia. Dr. Fay Stapleton Burnett, a native of Metter, Georgia, is a retired dentist and first time author. Her passions are Georgia history, genealogy, and visiting St. Simons Island, Lake Russell, and all points in between. A "multi-generational Baptist," she is married to Rev. Brock Burnett, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Winder, Georgia. She shares her extensive research on this case based on historic documents. The author discovered this story through the involvement of her Great-Great-Grandfather, Maj. George Lawson Stapleton, Jr. "I have examined your book for several hours, and want to congratulate you for the prodigious research you have done on the crime and the punishment of the perpetrators. I don't think you have left any stone unturned in this notable effort. The book will be a treasure for any future historian who wishes to report on these events. Both I personally and The Carter Center have long condemned capital punishment as unfairly applied, often in error, unnecessary and counterproductive, and I have expressed these views in several of my books. I hope your book will help to end this barbarous policy in America." - Former President Jimmy Carter

This fourth edition of the first true textbook on the death penalty engages the reader with a full account of the arguments and issues surrounding capital punishment. The book begins with the history of the death penalty from colonial to modern times, and then examines the moral and legal arguments for and against capital punishment. It also provides an overview of major Supreme Court decisions and describes the legal process behind the death penalty. In addressing these issues, the author reviews recent developments in death penalty law and procedure, including ramifications of newer case law, such as that regarding using lethal injection as a method of execution. The author’s motivation has been to understand what motivates the "deathquest" of the American people, leading a large percentage of the public to support the death penalty. The book will educate readers so that whatever their death penalty opinions are, they are informed ones.