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Death Penalty Contradictions

By Steve Hall

That's the title of a post by Scott Christianson at the Washington Post Political Bookworm blog.  He's also the author of The Last Gasp: The Rise and Fall of the American Gas Chamber, published earlier this year. Americans do not see themselves as blood-thirsty, cruel or punitive people. An ethos of exceptionalism coats their wars and punishments with divine blessing. Yet America?s enduring use of the death penalty ? the United States is one of the few Western countries that still resort to executions ? and the fact that it imprisons more of its citizens than any other, stands in stark contrast. The contradictions inherent in America?s naïve self-image are exemplified in the 20th-century history of the rise and fall of the gas chamber...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on November 11, 2010 (boomark / email).