Summer 2005

History 410/510 The Death Penalty in 20th Century America

Few debates in American society today are as emotionally charged as the issue of the death penalty. The United States is almost alone among democracies in its continued use of capital punishment. After a brief hiatus in the early 1970s, the death penalty has been reintroduced in most political jurisdictions, and this to the applause of a large majority of citizens. It has become a pivotal issue helping to decide elections; it seems that no politician can be elected to national office who opposes the practice. Yet executions themselves are now so routine that they seldom attract much attention. Nonetheless, a vocal minority of the population continues to condemn capital punishment. With an intensity equal to that of the proponents of death, they argue that it is unjust and immoral. Many more Americans have expressed disquiet in the face of evidence that innocent people have been condemned to death by a flawed judicial system and as a result of sloppy police work. Like so many controversies that polarize this society, this one goes on as if we had discovered the issue for the first time, and as if no other experience than the American matters to the dispute. The goal of this course is to demonstrate that the death penalty has a history, and that this history can contribute to the contemporary debates over the subject.

Four hundred years ago the public execution excited every bit as much interest as the subject of the death penalty does today. It was one of the most symbolically charged events mounted by the governments of early modern Europe. The ceremony was surrounded with royal and religious imagery. Offenders were executed for a wide range of offenses including property crimes. The spectacle attracted large crowds. Then in the eighteenth century there arose a major assault upon the prominence of the execution in western Europe and colonial America. Critics challenged the extent of the punishment and raised doubts about the moral justification for the sanction. Within a surprisingly brief period capital punishment was abolished for property crimes, and succeeding decades saw the gradual elimination of public executions. By the mid-nineteenth century the penalty was largely reserved for cases of murder. The number of executions in most western societies fell off rapidly. The tide of reform, however, stopped short of the total abolition of the punishment. The grim fate of the murderer excited public interest in new ways, at first through literature and newspapers, later through the movies. In America, the early twentieth century saw great interest in new technologies for execution of the condemned such as the electric chair and the gas chamber. Following the end of WWII, and especially following the revelation of the death camps, many European countries abolished the death penalty entirely. Although polling evidence suggests that in some countries a majority of the population would support its return, the political establishment in every European nation has resisted the resurrection of the penalty.

In the US the story of the death penalty has taken a different path. In part the divergence has its roots in history. It is a question of regions and the relations among them. While the northern and midwestern states followed a pattern somewhat like that of Europe, the west, and especially the south, pursued a distinctive trajectory. This difference has been dramatically marked in the post 1970s period. The most obvious source of this peculiar history lies in the character of race relations in this country. This issue, however, will not entirely explain the nation’s commitment to death. Rather one must also look at the cultural distinctions that mark America, the place of violence in the nation’s cultural mythology, the importance of the gun culture, and the rise of a powerful fundamentalist religious impulse influencing the approach to social problems. Additionally, the politics of the death penalty in this country points to the importance of considering the political structures of the nation, and the peculiar centrality of law and order issues in the late twentieth century. This complicated history of the changing relation of America to the death penalty is the theme of this course. Our task is not to pass judgment on the punishment, but rather to use the controversy over the death penalty as a way to look at the recent history of American society.

Course Structure:

This course will be taught in a lecture-discussion format. The instructor will present some background material through lecture. Each day we will also watch a video and use it to frame a discussion of a fundamental issue surrounding the death penalty. Students will also read two books and come prepared to discuss them in class. Obviously, this will be an intense week, both in terms of the subject and the number of hours spent in class. We will break up each day into a number of different tasks, so that student interest does not flag.

The final (four page) paper will be based on the books read for the course and the videos seen in class.

Required readings:

Truman Capote, In Cold Blood (students should begin this book before the term starts)

Scott Turow, Ultimate Punishment

All students are required to see “Dead Man Walking” by June 16. It can be rented at any video store.

Class Schedule:

Take-home exam due by 9am, June 20.