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Execution as Social Policy

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  • First Online:
Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance

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Synonyms

Capital punishment; Execution; Lex talionis; Eye-for-an-eye

Definition

Capital punishment:

A social policy to take life from someone convicted of the crime of murder. In some settings, the sentence of death may be for lesser crimes or religious crimes.

Condemned:

A person convicted of a capital crime.

Death row:

A section of a prison that houses the condemned.

Execution:

The act of the state taking the life of the condemned.

Just desert argument:

Punishment received is punishment deserved.

Last words:

The final words spoken by the condemned.

Lex talionis:

Retaliation in kind.

Introduction

While capital punishment may seem like a social policy few nations embrace, over 60 % of the world’s population live in states that recognize capital crimes. Currently 58 nations use capital punishment. Included are “modern” nations, like Japan and the United States; “affluent” nations, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates; Muslim nations, like Iraq and Iran; Christian nations,...

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References

  • Commonwealth of Virginia (1779) A bill for proportioning crimes and punishments in cases heretofore capital

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  • Death Penalty Information Center www.deathpenaltyinfo.com

  • Duff C (2001) A handbook on hanging. New York Review of Books, New York

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  • Furman v. Georgia (408 U.S. 238)

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  • Gregg v. Georgia (428 U.S. 153)

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  • Masur LP (1991) Rites of execution: capital punishment and the transformation of American culture, 1776–1865. Oxford University Press, New York

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  • Slack JD (2014) Abortion, execution, and the consequences of taking life. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick

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  • Steelwater E (2003) The Hangman’s Knot: lynching, legal execution, and America’s struggle with the death penalty. Westview Press, Boulder

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jackson State University, Jackson, MS, USA

    James D. Slack

Authors
  1. James D. Slack
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to James D. Slack .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA

    Ali Farazmand

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Slack, J.D. (2016). Execution as Social Policy. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_2557-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_2557-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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