Against Capital Punishment

Against Capital Punishment is the first full account of anti-death penalty activism in America during the years since the ten-year moratorium on executions ended in 1976. It traces the successful assault on capital punishment during the 1960s and the struggle of abolitionists against the backlash that has steadily gained momentum since the 1970s, and diagnoses the reasons for their inability to mobilize widespread opposition to executions. Finally, it assesses the prospects for the future of the death penalty in the United States. Haines has added a short postscript summarizing what has happened in the past four years.