About the Book
Built on in-depth interviews with movement leaders and the records of key abolitionist organizations, this work traces the struggle against capital punishment in the United States since 1972. Haines reviews the legal battles that led to the short-lived suspension of the death penalty and examines the subsequent conservative turn in the courts that has forced death penalty opponents to rely less on litigation strategies and more on political action. Employing social
movement theory, he diagnoses the causes of the anti-death penalty movement's inability to mobilize widespread opposition to executions, and he makes pointed recommendations for improving its
effectiveness. For this edition Haines has included a new Afterword in which he summarizes developments in the movement since 1994.
Table of Contents:
Introduction: Death Penalty Abolitionism in America
1: The Fall and Rise of Capital Punishment: 1965-1972
2: The Return of the Executioner: 1976-1982
3: The Reemergence of Political Abolitionism
4: Framing Disputes in the Movement Against Capital Punishment
5: Abolitionism at the Crossroads
6: Reframing Capital Punishment: Pragmatic Abolitionism
Afterword
Notes
References
Index
About the Author :
Herbert H. Haines is Associate Professor of Sociology at the State University of New York at Cortland. He is the author of Black Radicals and the Civil Rights Mainstream, 1954-1970 (1988), which was selected as an Outstanding Book by the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights in the United States.
Review :
"Drawing on a variety of methods, data, and theoretical frameworks, Professor Haines skillfully crafts a comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of the dynamics of the movement to abolish the death penalty in the United States. It is scholarly yet engaging, critical yet sympathetic, and topical yet important. Social movement scholars, criminologists, activists, and other observers will find this first extensive account of anti-death penalty activism since the
ten-year moratorium on executions ended captivating and provocative."--Robert D. Benford, University of Nebraska
"Herb Haines tells the compelling recent story of one of the nation's oldest social movements. His tale picks up after organized opposition to the death penalty nearly succeeded in seeing capital punishment abolished in 1972, and it follows the movement's change of direction as hope faded that the U.S. Supreme Court would deliver on its promise to keep the death penalty free of arbitrariness and racial bias, or do away with it. Haines' book presents a uniquely
critical but sympathetic appraisal of where the anti-death penalty movement now stands, and what directions it should take."--William J. Bowers, Ph.D., Northeastern University
"Mr. Haines' book is a clearly written and well-informed account of the struggles against the death penalty in America over the last two decades. Reading about the passions and commitment of those opposing executions is bound to give pause to even the closest friends of the executioner."--Michael L. Radelet, University of Florida
"The most important theoretical task in current social movement theory is the integration of organizational and culturalist approaches to movement dynamics. Haines provides us with a model of theoretical syncretism applied to an important empirical case. He makes both the movement's successes and its failures understandable. Against Capital Punishment will no doubt become a standard on social movement bibliographies."- -Rhys H. Williams, Southern
Illinois University at Carbondale
"Herbert H. Haines's fine book, Against Capital Punishment, is a compelling study of the anti-death penalty movement in America today, a vital but largely unstudied issue. This humane book is a must read for serious students of capital punishment."--Robert Johnson, Professor and Chair of the Department of Justice, Law and Society, American University, and author, Condemned to Die: Life Under Sentence of Death and Death Work: A
Study of the Modern Execution Process
"Drawing on a variety of methods, data, and theoretical frameworks, Professor Haines skillfully crafts a comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of the dynamics of the movement to abolish the death penalty in the United States. It is scholarly yet engaging, critical yet sympathetic, and topical yet important. Social movement scholars, criminologists, activists, and other observers will find this first extensive account of anti-death penalty activism since the
ten-year moratorium on executions ended captivating and provocative."--Robert D. Benford, University of Nebraska
"Herb Haines tells the compelling recent story of one of the nation's oldest social movements. His tale picks up after organized opposition to the death penalty nearly succeeded in seeing capital punishment abolished in 1972, and it follows the movement's change of direction as hope faded that the U.S. Supreme Court would deliver on its promise to keep the death penalty free of arbitrariness and racial bias, or do away with it. Haines' book presents a uniquely
critical but sympathetic appraisal of where the anti-death penalty movement now stands, and what directions it should take."--William J. Bowers, Ph.D., Northeastern University
"Mr. Haines' book is a clearly written and well-informed account of the struggles against the death penalty in America over the last two decades. Reading about the passions and commitment of those opposing executions is bound to give pause to even the closest friends of the executioner."--Michael L. Radelet, University of Florida
"The most important theoretical task in current social movement theory is the integration of organizational and culturalist approaches to movement dynamics. Haines provides us with a model of theoretical syncretism applied to an important empirical case. He makes both the movement's successes and its failures understandable. Against Capital Punishment will no doubt become a standard on social movement bibliographies."- -Rhys H. Williams, Southern
Illinois University at Carbondale
"Herbert H. Haines's fine book, Against Capital Punishment, is a compelling study of the anti-death penalty movement in America today, a vital but largely unstudied issue. This humane book is a must read for serious students of capital punishment."--Robert Johnson, Professor and Chair of the Department of Justice, Law and Society, American University, and author, Condemned to Die: Life Under Sentence of Death and Death Work: A
Study of the Modern Execution Process
"...He provides a detailed and thoughtful analysis of the movement's most recent phase. This carefully researched and thorough account of anti-death penalty ativism in the United States over the past twenty-five years will be valuable in a variety of traditional graduate and upper-level undergraduate courses."--American Journal of Sociology
"[The book] functions as both a solid work of history and a prescription for what can be done to end the death penalty in the United States. It is a unique work."--HISTORY
"Haines's book represents a welcome examination of the contemporary movement against the U.S. death penalty and helps fill the void in the social movement literature on criminal justice reform."--Contemporary Sociology
"Haines writes clearly and well, and this book will be useful for students in sociology and political science."--The Annals of the American Academy
"...[an] interesting, clearly written, and well-researched book that historians will find useful."--Journal of American History
"[Haines'] work is carefully researched, solidly grounded in social theory and relevant scholarly literature, and presented with admirable clarity. Against Capital Punishment achieves its goal of providing needed scholarly analysis concerning neglected social developments and political activities directed at the continuing policy debates about capital punishment."--The American Journal of Legal History
