James W. Marquart is Professor of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. Sheldon Ekland-Olson is Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. Jonathan R. Sorensen is Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Texas, Pan American.

• PrefaceChapter 1. From Lynchings to ElectrocutionsChapter 2. The Initial "Harvest of Death": 1924-1972Chapter 3. Rape, Race, and a "Peculiar Chivalry"Chapter 4. Capital Murder and Midnight AppealsChapter 5. Spared the Chair and Sentenced to LifeChapter 6. Adoption of Lethal Injection and Contemporary Death RitualsChapter 7. Stages of Sentencing and Future Dangerousness of ConvictsChapter 8. Some Closing ThoughtsAppendix A. Statute Providing for the Electrocution of Convicts Condemned to DeathAppendix B. Death Row Prisoners, 1923-1988Appendix C. Post-1974 Department of Corrections Procedures for the Execution of Death-sentenced InmatesNotesReferencesCourt CasesIndex

A solid contribution to our understanding of the relationship between race, crime, and capital punishment in American history. (Law and History Review) An important new book . . . the first to explore in such depth the historical continuities in capital punishment in a single state, and especially the complex part played by racism in both past and present application of the death penalty. It is must-reading for anyone who seeks to understand capital punishment in the United States. (Criminal Justice Review) [The authors] have produced a book that is, on the one hand, a moving human document and, on the other, a model of dispassionate analysis. Readers will feel for the victims of the death penalty, whose humanity is glimpsed in their diaries, in their last words, and in pathetic pleas for clemency made on their behalf by loved ones. Equally, readers will be repelled by the patterns of bias in the administration of the death penalty so clearly reflected in social science tables. The authors have done us a great service by adding both detail and nuance to our knowledge of the human foibles and fallibilities of our justice system, which are revealed so glaringly when we presume to mete out final punishments. (Criminologist)

James W. Marquart is Professor of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. Sheldon Ekland-Olson is Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. Jonathan R. Sorensen is Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Texas, Pan American.

• PrefaceChapter 1. From Lynchings to ElectrocutionsChapter 2. The Initial "Harvest of Death": 1924-1972Chapter 3. Rape, Race, and a "Peculiar Chivalry"Chapter 4. Capital Murder and Midnight AppealsChapter 5. Spared the Chair and Sentenced to LifeChapter 6. Adoption of Lethal Injection and Contemporary Death RitualsChapter 7. Stages of Sentencing and Future Dangerousness of ConvictsChapter 8. Some Closing ThoughtsAppendix A. Statute Providing for the Electrocution of Convicts Condemned to DeathAppendix B. Death Row Prisoners, 1923-1988Appendix C. Post-1974 Department of Corrections Procedures for the Execution of Death-sentenced InmatesNotesReferencesCourt CasesIndex

A solid contribution to our understanding of the relationship between race, crime, and capital punishment in American history. (Law and History Review) An important new book . . . the first to explore in such depth the historical continuities in capital punishment in a single state, and especially the complex part played by racism in both past and present application of the death penalty. It is must-reading for anyone who seeks to understand capital punishment in the United States. (Criminal Justice Review) [The authors] have produced a book that is, on the one hand, a moving human document and, on the other, a model of dispassionate analysis. Readers will feel for the victims of the death penalty, whose humanity is glimpsed in their diaries, in their last words, and in pathetic pleas for clemency made on their behalf by loved ones. Equally, readers will be repelled by the patterns of bias in the administration of the death penalty so clearly reflected in social science tables. The authors have done us a great service by adding both detail and nuance to our knowledge of the human foibles and fallibilities of our justice system, which are revealed so glaringly when we presume to mete out final punishments. (Criminologist)

James W. Marquart is Professor of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. Sheldon Ekland-Olson is Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. Jonathan R. Sorensen is Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Texas, Pan American.

• PrefaceChapter 1. From Lynchings to ElectrocutionsChapter 2. The Initial "Harvest of Death": 1924-1972Chapter 3. Rape, Race, and a "Peculiar Chivalry"Chapter 4. Capital Murder and Midnight AppealsChapter 5. Spared the Chair and Sentenced to LifeChapter 6. Adoption of Lethal Injection and Contemporary Death RitualsChapter 7. Stages of Sentencing and Future Dangerousness of ConvictsChapter 8. Some Closing ThoughtsAppendix A. Statute Providing for the Electrocution of Convicts Condemned to DeathAppendix B. Death Row Prisoners, 1923-1988Appendix C. Post-1974 Department of Corrections Procedures for the Execution of Death-sentenced InmatesNotesReferencesCourt CasesIndex

A solid contribution to our understanding of the relationship between race, crime, and capital punishment in American history. (Law and History Review) An important new book . . . the first to explore in such depth the historical continuities in capital punishment in a single state, and especially the complex part played by racism in both past and present application of the death penalty. It is must-reading for anyone who seeks to understand capital punishment in the United States. (Criminal Justice Review) [The authors] have produced a book that is, on the one hand, a moving human document and, on the other, a model of dispassionate analysis. Readers will feel for the victims of the death penalty, whose humanity is glimpsed in their diaries, in their last words, and in pathetic pleas for clemency made on their behalf by loved ones. Equally, readers will be repelled by the patterns of bias in the administration of the death penalty so clearly reflected in social science tables. The authors have done us a great service by adding both detail and nuance to our knowledge of the human foibles and fallibilities of our justice system, which are revealed so glaringly when we presume to mete out final punishments. (Criminologist)