wretched politics standards examining

books:

Wretched Sisters: Examining Gender and Capital Punishment (Studies in Crime and Punishment)
Mary Welek Atwell

Peter Lang Publishing, 2007

Since the United States reinstated the death penalty in 1976, eleven women have been put to death for murder. Each case involves a personal story with unique tragic elements. Yet common themes reflect how the criminal justice system defines crimes committed by women in a particular gendered context. Wretched Sisters offers an analysis of the legal and popular cultural circumstances that determine why a small number of women are sentenced to ...

Evolving Standards Of Decency: Popular Culture And Capital Punishment (Politics, Media, and Popular Culture)
Mary Welek Atwell

Peter Lang Publishing, 2004

The Supreme Court has looked to "evolving standards of decency" in determining whether the death penalty violates the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Evolving Standards of Decency examines the ways in which popular culture portrays the death penalty. By analyzing literature and film, Atwell argues that capital punishment becomes much more complex when both offenders and victims are presented ...