Author:
Hope Trina L.,Lepper-Pappan Heather M.,Natale Anthony P.
Abstract
Abstract
This chapter explores the history and current practice of capital punishment in the United States, evaluates capital punishment as a criminal justice policy, describes the collateral damage associated with capital punishment, and discusses the implications for social workers. The evidence is clear that capital punishment is arbitrary and costly, does not act as a deterrent, produces wrongful convictions, and is littered with a history of racial discrimination. Perhaps even worse than capital punishment missing the mark in terms of its intended effects, it inflicts significant collateral damage upon the families of both victims and offenders, as well as those who work in the system. Finally, when the social work code of ethics is applied to the system of capital punishment, it is clear the practice is antithetical to the aims of social work.
Publisher
Oxford University PressNew York
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