criminal justice/prison issues/capital punishment

DEAD END:

Dead End: by Gary E. Goldhammer Dead End:
by Gary E. Goldhammer
Biddle Publishing Company

A journalist travels across the country to explore the facts, emotions and politics surrounding capital punishment. Gary E. Goldhammer interviews those most affected by the death penalty -- inmates on Death Row, their families, victims' families, jailers and advocates -- and discovers the costs, both financial and human, of the ultimate and most irreversible American punishment. ISBN: 1-879418-15-x
©1994
$10.95 US
Softcover



To order this book...






EXCERPT

"If you're rich you don't go to Death Row. It's that simple. If you're poor, your attorney is liable to be either young and inexperienced, or old and incompetent. According to the national law Journal, "Indigent defendants on trial for their lives are being frequetly represented by ill-trained, unprepared court-appointed lawyers."

One Death case in Georgia was tried (and lost) by a third-year law student, and in four other trials that led to Death Row, the defense attorneys referred to their clients in open court as 'niggers'."


REVIEW

"This book is disconcerting no matter which side of the issue one stands on. Goldhammer raises the question of whether we are a safer society for killing people who kill, or if we'd be a more equitable one if we simply put them away for life. In this book, the death penalty, the final sentence, is still up for debate."

Orange County Metropolitan

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gary E. Goldhammer is a 1989 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. While in Missouri, he worked as a State Capital reported for the Columbia Missourian and United Press International. He received special recognition from the school for his news and feature coverage of Gerald Smith and George "Tiny" Mercer, the first people executed in the state in more than 23 years.

Goldhammer moved to Ventura County, California in August of 1989 to cover local and statewide politics, quickly earning a reputation for his analysis and presentation of complex issues and investigative reporting style. He moved to Santa Barbara, California in 1992 to pursue freelance projects and to write a weekly newspaper column.