1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910807686603321

Titolo

Murder on trial : 1620-2002 / / edited by Robert Asher, Lawrence B. Goodheart, and Alan Rogers

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Albany, : State University of New York Press, c2005

ISBN

0-7914-8361-4

1-4237-4804-2

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

viii, 279 p. : ill

Altri autori (Persone)

AsherRobert

GoodheartLawrence B. <1944->

RogersAlan <1936->

Disciplina

345.73/02523/09

Soggetti

Murder - United States - History

Homicide - United States - History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Adjudicating homicide : the legal framework and social norms / Robert Asher, Lawrence B. Goodheart, and Alan Rogers -- Cross-cultural "Murther" and retribution in colonial New England / John J. Navin -- Jim Crow justice, the Richmond Planet, and the murder of Lucy Pollard / Michael A. Trotti -- Justice denied : race and the 1982 murder trial of Mumia Abu-Jamal / Dave Lindorff -- Murder and minors : changing standards in the criminal law of Connecticut, 1650-1853 / Nancy H. Steenburg -- Murder and madness : the ambiguity of moral insanity in nineteenth-century Connecticut / Lawrence B. Goodheart -- Mad men and wronged women : murder and the insanity defense in Massachusetts, 1844-2000 / Alan Rogers -- Murder by inches : Shakers, family, and the death of Elder Caleb Dyer / Elizabeth A. De Wolfe -- "He has ravished my poor, simple, innocent wife!" : exploring the meaning of honor in the murder trials of George W. Cole / Laura-Eve Moss -- Bodies of evidence : inquest photography in the trial of Lizzie Borden / Tiffany Johnson Bidler.

Sommario/riassunto

This fascinating collection examines murder jurisprudence—the social rules that govern the arrest, trial, and punishment of people accused of murder—in the United States from the colonial period to the present.



The contributors show how changing social mores have influenced the application of murder law by highlighting the ways cultural biases like racism, changing ideas about childhood and insanity, and the ameliorative effects of middle class status and paternal imagery both helped and handicapped persons accused of murder. Such famous cases as the Lizzie Borden axe murder and African American activist Abu-Jamal's murder trial are included.