A gripping examination of the case for and against capital punishment by a respected criminal lawyer and celebrated novelist. In the words of Harvard Law Professor, Laurence H. Tribe--""Ultimate Punishment" is the ultimate statement about the death penalty: to read it is to understand why law alone cannot make us whole."
As a respected criminal lawyer, Scott Turow has been involved with the death penalty for more than a decade, including successfully representing two different men convicted in death-penalty prosecutions. In this vivid account of how his views on the death penalty have evolved, Turow describes his own experiences with capital punishment from his days as an impassioned young prosecutor to his recent service on the Illinois commission which investigated the administration of the death penalty and influenced Governor George Ryan's unprecedented commutation of the sentences of 164 death row inmates on his last day in office. Telling the powerful stories behind the statistics, as he moves from the Governor's Mansion to Illinois's state-of-the art "super-max" prison and the execution chamber, "Ultimate Punishment" has all the drama and intellectual substance of Turow's bestselling fiction.
Scott Turow is the author of six best-selling novels about the law, from "Presumed Innocent" to "Reversible Errors," which centers on a death penalty case. He received the Harold Washington Literary Award in 2008. He lives with his family outside Chicago, where he is a partner in the firm of Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal.
Winner of the 2003 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award
A "Chicago Tribune" Best Book
Scott Turow is known to millions as the author of peerless novels about the troubling regions of experience where law and reality intersect. And as a respected criminal lawyer, he has been involved with the death penalty for more than a decade, successfully representing two different men convicted in death penalty prosecutions. In this vivid account of how his views on the death penalty have evolved, Turow describes his own experiences with capital punishment, from his days as an impassioned young prosecutor to his recent service on the Illinois Commission that investigated the state's administration of the death penalty and influenced Governor George Ryan's unprecedented commutation of the sentences of 167 death row inmates on his last day in office.
Along the way, Turow provides a brief history of America's ambivalent relationship with the ultimate punishment; analyzes the potent reasons for and against it, including the role of the victims' survivors; and tells the powerful stories behind the statistics, as he moves from the governor's mansion to Illinois' Super-Max prison and the execution chamber. "Ultimate Punishment" is a gripping, clear-sighted, necessary examination of the principles, the personalities, and the politics of a fundamental dilemma of American democracy.
"In that rarest of achievements, a page-turner filled with genuine wisdom, Scott Turow takes us on a mesmerizing voyage through the land of murder, holding us spellbound as we arrive finally at the secret lying at the heart of every one of Turow's gripping novels, a secret whose revelation exposes what we truly seek from capital punishment--and why we will never find it there. Written with a fine lawyer's feel for fairness and with a superb novelist's gift for telling us truths beyond the power of law's logic to express, "Ultimate Punishment" is the ultimate statement about the death penalty: to read it is to understand why law alone cannot make us whole."--Laurence H. Tribe, Tyler Professor of Constitutional Law, Harvard Law School
"In that rarest of achievements, a page-turner filled with genuine wisdom, Scott Turow takes us on a mesmerizing voyage through the land of murder, holding us spellbound as we arrive finally at the secret lying at the heart of every one of Turow's gripping novels, a secret whose revelation exposes what we truly seek from capital punishment--and why we will never find it there. Written with a fine lawyer's feel for fairness and with a superb novelist's gift for telling us truths beyond the power of law's logic to express, "Ultimate Punishment" is the ultimate statement about the death penalty: to read it is to understand why law alone cannot make us whole."--Laurence H. Tribe, Tyler Professor of Constitutional Law, Harvard Law School
"Turow does a fine job of condensing the tremendously complex workings of capital punishment in America . . . Just as I recommend this book to non-lawyers because it is a readable lesson on an important issue, I also recommend it to lawyers."--Elizabeth Kelly, "Trial"
"Turow's book flows well and] is compact . . . But it] covers the topic . . . Turow addresses both the leading pro and con death penalty arguments and handles them evenly . . . Thought-provoking, heart-wrenching, and deserving of a close read."--Leslie Doran, "The Denver Post"
"A thoughtful, reasoned discourse on an explosive topic . . . A] fine new book . . . Turow is a sure-footed tour guide with a nuanced view of a complex subject. He does not so much attack the issue as reason it into submission . . . Turow's tone throughout is one of understatement and empathy, the perfect voice for an issue that demands cool-headed reason."--Kevin Canfield, "The Atlanta-Journal Constitution"
"A balanced, thoughtful presentation . . . Although Turow briefly reviews the complex legal landscape that controls death-penalty litigation, the book focuses most of its attention on the application of capital punishment in America today . . . One would be hard-pressed to find a more complete, reasoned, and fair analysis of the issue that accepts both sides of the debate as founded on real and very valid concerns."--Kevin J. Hamilton, "The Seattle Times"
"A concise analysis of the main issues involved in the capital punishment controversy . . . Chapter by chapter, Mr. Turo
Industry Reviews
"This slender but closely argued book is an account of Turow's path to a 'no' vote on capital punishment....As one who has long wrestled with this issue, and who as an editorialist many years ago from time to time had to do that wrestling in public, I regard this as the most convincing, levelheaded analysis of it I have encountered." --The Washington Post
"Concise and incisive...As one would expect from a writer of Turow's gifts, Ultimate Punishment makes for compelling and thoughtful reading." --Chicago Tribune
"Turow's brief narrative illuminates two faces of the death penalty in the United States. Each, as he suggests, should give us serious pause....[Ultimate Punishment is] engaging, and, more important, it speaks to an audience not always considered by death penalty opponents: people, like Turow himself, for whom capital punishment has a strong visceral appeal. Turow does not minimize either the nature of the crimes or the deep anger they evoke in the people forced to reckon with them. He gets it. He will thus be read with sympathy by readers open to arguments against capital punishment but alienated by what they perceive, rightly or wrongly, as the indifference of abolitionists to the suffering of the victims." --Los Angeles Times
"By clearly and methodically sorting through the issues regarding the ultimate punishment, Turow has performed a public service. By turns shocking and engrossing, this book is highly recommended." --Library Journal This slender but closely argued book is an account of Turow's path to a 'no' vote on capital punishment....As one who has long wrestled with this issue, and who as an editorialist many years ago from time to time had to do that wrestling in public, I regard this as the most convincing, levelheaded analysis of it I have encountered. "The Washington Post"
Concise and incisive...As one would expect from a writer of Turow's gifts, "Ultimate Punishment "makes for compelling and thoughtful reading. "Chicago Tribune"
Turow's brief narrative illuminates two faces of the death penalty in the United States. Each, as he suggests, should give us serious pause....["Ultimate Punishment" is] engaging, and, more important, it speaks to an audience not always considered by death penalty opponents: people, like Turow himself, for whom capital punishment has a strong visceral appeal. Turow does not minimize either the nature of the crimes or the deep anger they evoke in the people forced to reckon with them. He gets it. He will thus be read with sympathy by readers open to arguments against capital punishment but alienated by what they perceive, rightly or wrongly, as the indifference of abolitionists to the suffering of the victims. "Los Angeles Times"
By clearly and methodically sorting through the issues regarding the ultimate punishment, Turow has performed a public service. By turns shocking and engrossing, this book is highly recommended. "Library Journal"" "This slender but closely argued book is an account of Turow's path to a 'no' vote on capital punishment....As one who has long wrestled with this issue, and who as an editorialist many years ago from time to time had to do that wrestling in public, I regard this as the most convincing, levelheaded analysis of it I have encountered."--"The Washington Post"
"Concise and incisive...As one would expect from a writer of Turow's gifts, "Ultimate Punishment "makes for compelling and thoughtful reading."--"Chicago Tribune"
"Turow's brief narrative illuminates two faces of the death penalty in the United States. Each, as he suggests, should give us serious pause....["Ultimate Punishment" is] engaging, and, more important, it speaks to an audience not always considered by death penalty opponents: people, like Turow himself, for whom capital punishment has a strong visceral appeal. Turow does not minimize either the nature of the crimes or the deep anger they evoke in the people forced to reckon with them. He gets it. He will thus be read with sympathy by readers open to arguments against capital punishment but alienated by what they perceive, rightly or wrongly, as the indifference of abolitionists to the suffering of the victims."--"Los Angeles Times"
"By clearly and methodically sorting through the issues regarding the ultimate punishment, Turow has performed a public service. By turns shocking and engrossing, this book is highly recommended." --"Library Journal"
