From Publishers Weekly
Although law professor Sundby casts this book as an impartial look at capital jury deliberations, it would be difficult to walk away from it without a few lingering doubts about the efficacy of the current system of death penalty sentencing. Drawing on information from the Capital Jury Project, a nationwide study that interviewed more than 1,000 capital jurors, as well as on data from studies of group decision-making, this work offers a gripping and important look behind the jury room doors. Those who oppose the death penalty will no doubt come across much here to bolster their views. And those who support it will find themselves with plenty of food for thought as Sundby surveys crucial issues such as jury instructions, jury room setup and voir dire procedures. Regardless of where one stands in the debate, however, Sundby uses the personal stories of the jurors so compellingly that he brings the drama of the jury room to vivid life.

Book Description
With a life in the balance, a jury convicts a man of murder and now has to decide whether he should be put to death. Twelve people now face a momentous choice.
Bringing drama to life, A Life and Death Decision gives unique insight into how a jury deliberates. We feel the passions, anger, and despair as the jurors grapple with legal, moral, and personal dilemmas. The jurors’ voices are compelling. From the idealist to the “holdout,” the individual stories—of how and why they voted for life or death—drive the narrative. The reader is right there siding with one or another juror in this riveting read.
From movies to novels to television, juries fascinate. Focusing on a single case, Sundby sheds light on broader issues, including the roles of race, class, and gender in the justice system. With death penalty cases consistently in the news, this is an important window on how real jurors deliberate about a pressing national issue.


From the Publisher
"This is the best account I have ever read of how a jury decides whether to impose a death sentence. We see the case from the jurors' multiple and sometimes inconsistent points of view. Deftly combining a narrative of one trial with conclusions drawn from broader research, Sundby provides unique insight into the realities behind debates about the death penalty."--Stuart Banner, author of The Death Penalty: An American History

From the Inside Flap
"This is the best account I have ever read of how a jury decides whether to impose a death sentence. We see the case from the jurors' multiple and sometimes inconsistent points of view. Deftly combining a narrative of one trial with conclusions drawn from broader research, Sundby provides unique insight into the realities behind debates about the death penalty."--Stuart Banner, author of The Death Penalty: An American History


About the Author
Scott E. Sundby is the Sydney and Frances Lewis professor of law, Washington and Lee University, and has worked on both the prosecution and defense sides in a variety of criminal cases and has testified as an expert witness on the death penalty and other legal issues.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"A life in the balance. Twelve people must make a momentous choice: whether the man they convicted of murder should be sentenced to death. Locked in a cramped room, these strangers feel strong emotions, from certainty to doubt, from anger to calm, from satisfaction to despair. Bringing drama to life, A Life and Death Decision gives insight into how a jury grapples with legal, moral, and personal dilemmas." "The death penalty is among the most controversial issues in America today, with debates over its constitutionality and fairness taking center stage. But little is known about how jurors, real people, come to grips with the awesome responsibility inherent in a life or death decision. Scott E. Sundby gives us access to the deliberations and tensions of jurors making a decision sure to alter lives - of the culprit and his family, the victim's family, and the jurors themselves." Scott E. Sundby explores how the jurors came to a unanimous decision through persuasion and pressure. The voices of the jurors are compelling, their reasoning fascinating. They shed light on broader issues, including the roles of race, class, and gender in the justice system. With death penalty cases consistently in the news, this is an important window on how real jurors deliberate about a pressing national issue.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Bill Kurtis

"Scott Sundby provides a remarkable new perspective on the death penalty--from the jury room. To some, it will confirm their faith in the magic of twelve citizens to find the truth. To others, it exposes the fragility of an imperfect system with which we impose the ultimate penalty." — anchors A&E's American Justice and is the author of The Death Penalty on Trial: Crisis in American Justice

Stuart Banner

"This is the best account I have ever read of how a jury decides whether to impose a death sentence. We see the case from the jurors' multiple and sometimes inconsistent points of view. Deftly combining a narrative of one trial with conclusions drawn from broader research, Sundby provides unique insight into the realities behind debates about the death penalty." — author of The Death Penalty: An American History

Roy Black

"Reading like a legal thriller, Sundby's book is a fascinating study proving the imposition of the death penalty depends more on who is on the jury than who is on trial. Like Sherlock Holmes, Sundby peers deep into the jury box and the mind of each juror to follow the Byzantine process used to send another human being to a grisly death." — the famed criminal defense attorney who has handled more than 200 capital cases in the last four decades

ACCREDITATION