Slavery and the Death Penalty : A Study in Abolition

It has long been recognized that the legacy of slavery rears its head in the use of capital punishment in America, but little attention has been paid to the historical and conceptual relationship between today’s abolitionists, and those who worked to end involuntary bondage. This book explains how the course of abolitionism, and the strategies and tactics of the anti-death penalty movement, have been shaped and influenced by the history of slavery and abolition. It uses the literature on slavery and abolition to explain the radicalism of today’s abolitionists, and to advocate for a more radical approach to ending state-sanctioned executions.

It has long been acknowledged that the death penalty in the United States of America has been shaped by the country’s history of slavery and racial violence, but this book considers the lesser-explored relationship between the two practices’ respective abolitionist movements. The book explains how the historical and conceptual links between slavery and capital punishment have both helped and hindered efforts to end capital punishment. The comparative study also sheds light on the nature of such efforts, and offers lessons for how death penalty abolitionism should proceed in future. Using the history of slavery and abolition, it is argued that anti-death penalty efforts should be premised on the ideologies of the radical slavery abolitionists.