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Capital Punishment: An Indictment by a Death-Row Survivor
The co-author of A Life in the Balance describes the botched robbery that resulted in his forty-year sentence in Angola Prison, the six years he spent on death row before the Supreme Court's 1972 ruling against the death penalty, and his observations about the death penalty throughout history.
264 pages, Hardcover
First published March 11, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 25, 2026
Who knew that the electric chair was the most humane form of execution??
January 12, 2012
As long as I can remember, I have been against capital punishment. I can remember in high school being the only one who argued against it in a law class. I also remember hushing every argument against me by stating the reality of it all against misinformation and ignorance of the judicial system.
Billy Wayne Sinclair presents incredibly thought-provoking arguments and staggering statistics combined with an insider's perspective of death row and the judicial system in his argument against capital punishment, but, unfortunately, it's an argument and side of the story that the people who should read it wont.
While Sinclair certainly sprinkles statistics throughout the book which may make this read a bit trudging for the reader at times, his unique insight and perspective on the issue bring about feelings that completely statistical and factual arguments cannot produce.
You're not simply reading a report on why the death penalty is a barbaric and useless practice, let alone completely abused and misused, but you're given a window into the humanity of it all. The human aspect and suffering of those who sit on death row. Especially in the last chapter, "The Saga", describing the case of Robert Wayne Williams, a man who Sinclair was able to speak to and interview prior to his execution.
While I immensely enjoyed Sinclair's book, I can see where his continual citing of statistics could become heavy for the casual reader. He also has a tendency to repeat a few things in some areas of the book, but it didn't ruin anything for me and was not noticeable but a few times.
Also, this book is exactly what Sinclair professes it to be. He does not claim his argument to be completely fair an balanced. The man is a death row survivor and has an obvious stance against capital punishment, but he does not claim otherwise.
"This book is colored with our personal and political biases. To that, we readily confess. While the journalists in us objectively presented the facts about the death penalty, our feelings about capital punishment shaped both the content and direction of the chapters in this book. We hope you do not forget them."
One fact remains. That capital punishment is something we must all look at and contemplate. It's an issue which all of us must ask ourselves, "Is this what humanity has come to? Can we really bring ourselves to justify the extinguishing of a life while knowing full well how the loss of life can effect us?"
An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind. And it leaves none of us any better.
Billy Wayne Sinclair presents incredibly thought-provoking arguments and staggering statistics combined with an insider's perspective of death row and the judicial system in his argument against capital punishment, but, unfortunately, it's an argument and side of the story that the people who should read it wont.
While Sinclair certainly sprinkles statistics throughout the book which may make this read a bit trudging for the reader at times, his unique insight and perspective on the issue bring about feelings that completely statistical and factual arguments cannot produce.
You're not simply reading a report on why the death penalty is a barbaric and useless practice, let alone completely abused and misused, but you're given a window into the humanity of it all. The human aspect and suffering of those who sit on death row. Especially in the last chapter, "The Saga", describing the case of Robert Wayne Williams, a man who Sinclair was able to speak to and interview prior to his execution.
While I immensely enjoyed Sinclair's book, I can see where his continual citing of statistics could become heavy for the casual reader. He also has a tendency to repeat a few things in some areas of the book, but it didn't ruin anything for me and was not noticeable but a few times.
Also, this book is exactly what Sinclair professes it to be. He does not claim his argument to be completely fair an balanced. The man is a death row survivor and has an obvious stance against capital punishment, but he does not claim otherwise.
"This book is colored with our personal and political biases. To that, we readily confess. While the journalists in us objectively presented the facts about the death penalty, our feelings about capital punishment shaped both the content and direction of the chapters in this book. We hope you do not forget them."
One fact remains. That capital punishment is something we must all look at and contemplate. It's an issue which all of us must ask ourselves, "Is this what humanity has come to? Can we really bring ourselves to justify the extinguishing of a life while knowing full well how the loss of life can effect us?"
An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind. And it leaves none of us any better.
January 27, 2018
More like 2.75. It was a bit repetitive, the author really likes to include tons of stats, and the actual cases mentioned really were just a little too short in the info department. I think the stats were in there more for shock value, rather than the cases cited. The one thing I did like, was the cases cited. I liked how the author included them to get the point across, but I wanted more of them and a bit more in depth.
March 8, 2015
Very good, but it gets a bit like a broken record with the basic points repeated again and again
June 27, 2022
I must've tabbed every other page in this book.
I used to be 100% pro-death penalty until roughly 5 years ago. I worked in the Oklahoma County Jail for 2 years and worked on books written by former inmates (as well as one written by the wife of the now-deceased Les Bower, sentenced to death in 2015). Even after changing my stance, I was shocked to see how . . . shocked I was at everything covered in this book by Billy Wayne Sinclair and Jodie Sinclair.
Yes, it's a bit heartbreaking to read, but don't we need our hearts broken sometimes? I can't recommend this book enough to pro- and anti-death penalty Americans. You need to see both sides of the story.
I used to be 100% pro-death penalty until roughly 5 years ago. I worked in the Oklahoma County Jail for 2 years and worked on books written by former inmates (as well as one written by the wife of the now-deceased Les Bower, sentenced to death in 2015). Even after changing my stance, I was shocked to see how . . . shocked I was at everything covered in this book by Billy Wayne Sinclair and Jodie Sinclair.
Yes, it's a bit heartbreaking to read, but don't we need our hearts broken sometimes? I can't recommend this book enough to pro- and anti-death penalty Americans. You need to see both sides of the story.
December 21, 2023
Very repetitive, full of statistics, and much I don’t agree with.
I am not PR capital punishment except in obvious cases. Such as when the caught the guy with the dead bodies in his house, and he lived among them.
Or Jeffrey Dalmer type. Absolute proof. No circumstantial evidence.
I am not PR capital punishment except in obvious cases. Such as when the caught the guy with the dead bodies in his house, and he lived among them.
Or Jeffrey Dalmer type. Absolute proof. No circumstantial evidence.
July 14, 2026
Not the best book on the death penalty and quite repetitive! Certainly not the worst either but cliche driven and could have been a bit more analytical but considering all of the above it was still worth the read and given its authorship it’s still a solid book.
December 29, 2023
Entertaining and informative. Parts might be irrelevant.
September 2, 2009
Billy Wayne Sinclair's book is just what its cover advertises it to be: a critical examination of the death penalty by a former death row inmate. Sinclair, just 21 years old, was sentenced to death for a murder committed during a robbery gone wrong. He spent 6 years on death row, and was one of the hundreds of inmates whose death sentences were voided by the Supreme Court's 1972 decision in Furhman v. Georgia. He spent 40 years in prison, where he became a jailhouse lawyer and writer.
The central thesis of Sinclair's book is that: "The baleful sounds and smells of state-sanctioned death will persist until the nation recognizes that capital punishment is barbarism cloaked in Old Testament vengeance."
The body of the book deals with many of the by now well-known and increasingly recognized problems with the death penalty as imposed in America. These include latent and overt racism, uneven and capricious application, the unreliability of much eyewitness testimony, coupled with the tendency of juries to be unduly swayed by such testimony, the frequent inability of poor defendants to obtain competent counsel and prosecutorial misconduct.
Sinclair makes his points with carefully chosen and powerful anecdotes. For instance: From 1977 through 2008, 1,135 inmates were executed, 640 whites, 390 blacks,79 Hispanics, and 24 "other," for the murders of 1,326 whites, 242 blacks, 85 Hispanics, and 40 "other." During this time, 15 whites were executed for murdering black victims, and 228 blacks were executed for killing white victims. As of 2001, 108 inmates, 13 of whom had received death sentences, and who had collectively served 1,116 years in prison, were exonerated by DNA evidence of the crimes for which they had been convicted. In 2003, a Missouri assistant attorney general argued to the Missouri Supreme Court in the case of a convict who had spent 17 years on death row before being exonerated by DNA, that even if the Court should find evidence of actual innocence, the inmate should still be executed, apparently because the principles of "finality" and an end to appeals weigh more than the life of an innocent person. Men who murder their wives or girlfriends rarely receive the death penalty unless there are such aggravating circumstances as the murders of multiple other persons at the same time, while persons, including Sinclair himself, convicted of a "garden variety" killing a single victim during a robbery, far more frequently receive the death penalty.
Sinclair's book also touches on such issues as the barbaric nature of many methods of execution, the problem of child and juvenile murderers, and the intense and unremitting pain of the families of murder victims. While the problems he deals with are well known, nonetheless, Sinclair's book is disturbing and thought provoking. It should be on the reading list of anyone interested in this problem which seemingly will not die, and which continues to arouse passionate feelings and debate in America.
The central thesis of Sinclair's book is that: "The baleful sounds and smells of state-sanctioned death will persist until the nation recognizes that capital punishment is barbarism cloaked in Old Testament vengeance."
The body of the book deals with many of the by now well-known and increasingly recognized problems with the death penalty as imposed in America. These include latent and overt racism, uneven and capricious application, the unreliability of much eyewitness testimony, coupled with the tendency of juries to be unduly swayed by such testimony, the frequent inability of poor defendants to obtain competent counsel and prosecutorial misconduct.
Sinclair makes his points with carefully chosen and powerful anecdotes. For instance: From 1977 through 2008, 1,135 inmates were executed, 640 whites, 390 blacks,79 Hispanics, and 24 "other," for the murders of 1,326 whites, 242 blacks, 85 Hispanics, and 40 "other." During this time, 15 whites were executed for murdering black victims, and 228 blacks were executed for killing white victims. As of 2001, 108 inmates, 13 of whom had received death sentences, and who had collectively served 1,116 years in prison, were exonerated by DNA evidence of the crimes for which they had been convicted. In 2003, a Missouri assistant attorney general argued to the Missouri Supreme Court in the case of a convict who had spent 17 years on death row before being exonerated by DNA, that even if the Court should find evidence of actual innocence, the inmate should still be executed, apparently because the principles of "finality" and an end to appeals weigh more than the life of an innocent person. Men who murder their wives or girlfriends rarely receive the death penalty unless there are such aggravating circumstances as the murders of multiple other persons at the same time, while persons, including Sinclair himself, convicted of a "garden variety" killing a single victim during a robbery, far more frequently receive the death penalty.
Sinclair's book also touches on such issues as the barbaric nature of many methods of execution, the problem of child and juvenile murderers, and the intense and unremitting pain of the families of murder victims. While the problems he deals with are well known, nonetheless, Sinclair's book is disturbing and thought provoking. It should be on the reading list of anyone interested in this problem which seemingly will not die, and which continues to arouse passionate feelings and debate in America.
August 8, 2011
I enjoyed this book, but could only give it three stars. I am firmly and irresistibly anti-death penalty. Anyone choosing to start a very heated argument with me will almost always find one by starting to advocate the state using an imperfect justice system to pass on the ultimate sentence in my name. I don't justify taking it easy on murderers so don't start that, I only think that killing someone out of revenge isn't going to help anyone.
That said, this is a book with a point of view. Sinclair has a pretty unique view on the death penalty having spent some time on death row himself. Which to the casual reader will sound like "well of course he's anti death penalty... "
Despite the fact he makes a number of good arguments, the book is a tough one to enjoy reading because of the piles and piles of bland statistics used.
That said, this is a book with a point of view. Sinclair has a pretty unique view on the death penalty having spent some time on death row himself. Which to the casual reader will sound like "well of course he's anti death penalty... "
Despite the fact he makes a number of good arguments, the book is a tough one to enjoy reading because of the piles and piles of bland statistics used.
July 20, 2009
In 1965, Billy Wayne Sinclair accidentally killed a store clerk with a shot fired aimlessly into the dark after a robbery he had committed. One year later, at the age of twenty-one, he was sentenced to die in the electric chair for his crime, however unintentional. Sinclair initially dealt with his death sentence through denial, swallowing the tranquilizers the guards on death row dispensed to keep the inmates pacified. Thankfully, Sinclair became curious about the system that intended to kill him and the methods it had at its disposal to do so.
Read the rest at Feminist Review.
Read the rest at Feminist Review.
August 6, 2015
Maybe the next edition can have a decent cover; no need for total black.
I'm pro-death penalty, yes sir, but not for a case such as this. The sentence here, and the time spent in prison, was excessive. This man is a survivor, no doubt about it.
Death penalty is for perps who hands down and unequivocally not only did the crime/s but do not regret it and even brag about it: Richard Allen Davis (victim: Polly Klaas). Flipped the 'finger' at Mr. Klaas, and claimed he'd do it again. Take him out! I'd pull the switch myself.
I'm pro-death penalty, yes sir, but not for a case such as this. The sentence here, and the time spent in prison, was excessive. This man is a survivor, no doubt about it.
Death penalty is for perps who hands down and unequivocally not only did the crime/s but do not regret it and even brag about it: Richard Allen Davis (victim: Polly Klaas). Flipped the 'finger' at Mr. Klaas, and claimed he'd do it again. Take him out! I'd pull the switch myself.
January 31, 2012
I really enjoyed this author, even if I did not agree with all of his view points 100% of the time. There some typos...but it was an ebook...so not too much to complain about. Will probably read more from this author in the future.
Want to Read
December 31, 2015#
NC
Own in paperback.
FS: "Americans have been debating whether the death penalty is a just punishment since the colonies revolted against the oppressive, often brutal dictates of the English crown."
LS: "I believe politics killed Williams then. I can formally put it on the record now."
NC
Own in paperback.
FS: "Americans have been debating whether the death penalty is a just punishment since the colonies revolted against the oppressive, often brutal dictates of the English crown."
LS: "I believe politics killed Williams then. I can formally put it on the record now."
May 8, 2012
Food for thought for anyone who is pro-capital punishment.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews