Wounds that Do Not Bind

Book excerpt: For more information about the authors, click here. This volume presents perspectives of murder victims' family members, academics, and crime victims' advocates regarding an intensely debated issue about which surprisingly little information exists: the significance of capital punishment to murder victims' survivors. The book includes more than twenty chapters that examine a variety of issues concerning these survivors, or co-victims, and the death penalty. These chapters present the personal accounts of victims' family members' experiences with the criminal justice system and examine relevant legal and research issues, including the use of victim impact evidence in capital trials, how the capital punishment process affects co-victims, what is known about the immediate and long-term needs of murder victims' survivors, and how those needs can be addressed. "[A] valuable collection." -- Crime Victims Report "This manuscript is unique, exploring an area that has generally been neglected in both the scholarly and public press... The academic chapters are well referenced and adequately indexed... The book is well written with clear prose, within the reach of most readers." -- CHOICE Magazine "Wounds That Do Not Bind will be most effective in undergraduate criminal courses; it offers students a rich portrait of victim-based perspectives not likely to be found in textbooks... The book should also be read by key criminal justice practitioners -- prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, and police -- many of whom might gain some startling insights into their own behaviors and their impact on outsiders." -- Law & Politics Book Review