Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Subject of Execution: Defendant Narratives in American Capital Punishment.

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

This project investigates the process of constructing defendant narratives in capital cases. Capital cases tend to produce two types of representations of the defendant-an "evil" narrative and a "mitigation" narrative. The former emphasizes individual responsibility by effacing the connection between the defendant's crime and the social conditions that caused it, while the latter downplays individual responsibility by emphasizing the deterministic effect of social conditions. The study will analyze trial transcripts and post-conviction proceedings (direct appeals, habeas corpus petitions, and clemency materials) in all capital trials that resulted in a death sentence in three California counties (Orange, Alameda, and San Diego) since Gregg (1976), with special attention to defendant narratives. The PI will also will conduct approximately 50 in-depth interviews among capital caseworkers who produce defendant narratives. The PI will develop typologies of rhetorical characteristics in capital narratives and to describe the role of ideologies within these narratives.