Wounds That Do Not Bind: Victim-Based Perspectives on the Death Penalty

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.