Contributors . . ix
Acknowledgments . . xi

Introduction: Transatlantic Perspectives on Capital 
Punishment: National Identity, the Death Penalty, and the Prospects for Abolition . . 1

PART I: WHAT IS A PENALTY OF DEATH: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN CONTEXT . . 

1 The Green, Green Grass of Home: Capital Punishment and 
  the Penal System from a Long-Term Perspective . . 17
2 Did Anyone Die Here?: Legal Personalities, the Supermax, and the Politics of Abolition . . 47
3 Capital Punishment as Homeowner's Insurance: The Rise of the Homeowner Citizen 
  and the Fate of Ultimate Sanctions in Both Europe and the United States . . 78

PART II: ON THE MEANING OF DEATH AND PAIN IN EUROPE 
         AND THE UNITED STATES: VIEWING, WITNESSING, UNDERSTANDING 

4 The Witnessing of Judgment: Between Error, Mercy, and Vindictiveness . . 109
5 Unframing the Death Penalty: Transatlantic Discourse 
  on the Possibility of Abolition and the Execution of Saddam Hussein . . 126
6 Executions and the Debate over Abolition in France and the United States . . 150

PART III: ABOLITIONIST DISCOURSES, ABOLITIONIST STRATEGIES, ABOLITIONIST DILEMMAS: 
          TRANSATLANTIC PERSPECTIVES 

7 Civilized Rebels: Death-Penalty Abolition in Europe as 
  Cause, Mark of Distinction, and Political Strategy . . 173
8 The Death of Dignity . . 204
9 Sovereignty and the Unnecessary Penalty of Death: 
  European and United States Perspectives . . 236
10 European Policy on the Death Penalty . . 268
11 The Long Shadow of the Death Penalty: Mass Incarceration, 
   Capital Punishment, and Penal Policy in the United States . . 292

Index . . 323