No Winners Here Tonight: Race, Politics, and Geography in One of the Country's Busiest Death Penalty States(Series on Law, Society, and Politics in the Midwest)

Few subjects are as intensely debated in the United States as the death penalty. Some form of capital punishment has existed in America for hundreds of years, yet the justification for carrying out the ultimate sentence is a continuing source of controversy. No Winners Here Tonight explores the history of the death penalty and the question of its fairness through the experience of a single state, Ohio, which, despite its moderate midwestern values, has long had one of the country's most active death chambers. In 1958, just four states accounted for half of the forty-eight executions carried out nationwide, each with six: California, Georgia, Ohio, and Texas. By the first decade of the new century, Ohio was second only to Texas in the number of people put to death each year. No Winners Here Tonight looks at this trend and determines that capital punishment has been carried out in an uneven fashion from its earliest days, with outcomes based not on blind justice but on the color of a person's skin, the whim of a local prosecutor, or the biases of the jury pool in the county in which a crime was committed. Andrew Welsh-Huggins's work is the only comprehensive study of the history of the death penalty in Ohio. His analysis concludes that the current law, crafted by lawmakers to punish the worst of the state's killers, doesn't come close to its intended purpose and instead varies widely in its implementation. Welsh-Huggins takes on this controversial topic evenhandedly and with respect for the humanity of the accused and the victim alike. This exploration of the law of capital punishment and its application will appeal to students of criminal justice as well as those with an interest in law and public policy.

About the Author :
Andrew Welsh-Huggins is the Shamus, Derringer, and International Thriller Writers award-nominated author of the Andy Hayes private eye series; author of the standalone crime novel The End of the Road; and editor of the Columbus Noir anthology. His short mystery fiction has appeared in multiple magazines, including Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and in many anthologies, including The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2021; Groovy Gumshoes: Private Eyes in the Psychedelic Sixties; and Paranoia Blues: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Paul Simon. His nonfiction book, No Winners Here Tonight, is the definitive history of the death penalty in Ohio.

Review :
"The book is beautifully written. Specialists who already know the broad outlines will be interested in learning the Ohio story, and for nonspecialists, the book will be an engaging introduction to the subject." - Stuart Banner, author of The Death Penalty: An American History "The book is an original and important project that makes a significant contribution to the field." - Douglas A. Berman, William B. Saxbe Designated Professor of Law, Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University