Book Review: Bohm, R. M. (Ed.). (2008). The Death Penalty Today. Boca Raton, FL: Taylor & Francis Group. xvi, 224 pp

Date01 December 2008
DOI10.1177/0734016808322261
Published date01 December 2008
Subject MatterArticles
inordinate amount of rigor to that enterprise. Likewise, more perhaps could have been said
regarding the scientific case against the forensic use of hypnotic memory retrieval (p. 210)
and polygraph examinations (p. 203). Historical awareness is a major strength of the work,
but some passages here can feel incomplete as well. Neither slave patrols nor Southern
lynch law are discussed as premodern forms of policing, and the historical role of the mil-
itary in domestic affairs is largely unaddressed. The repressive functions of 19th-century
private forces and early public forces are generally understated—the occasional brutality,
where discussed (p. 20), can be lacking in context. Episodes sparking crises of legitimacy
in modern times are recognized but largely unexplored, as in reference to (p. 32) and pho-
tographs of (p. 295) the police riot at the 1968 Democratic Convention minus any account
of that event. Certain trends (e.g., militarization, Compstat’s influence) apparently contrary
to COPPS principles, and suggestive of a revival of the crime fighter model, are seemingly
acknowledged only obliquely in the final chapter of the work (p. 451).
Still, there is easily more that is worthwhile in this work for preprofessional and acade-
mic audiences alike. Although not explicitly called out by the author, two poignant and
related themes seem to thread the text together from the foreword to its conclusion. First,
that as a marginalized and often underappreciated profession, the police are given to occu-
pational frustrations that are poisonous to quality performance and the private lives of offi-
cers. Second, that American policing nonetheless hinges on perceived legitimacy—and
thus, a healthy and professional force. This dilemma might be definitive of the challenge
facing policing today, and it would seem that COPPS, as envisioned here, offers something
potentially quite valuable toward its resolution.
Ernest L. Nickels
Indiana University, Bloomington
Bohm, R. M. (Ed.). (2008). The Death Penalty Today. Boca Raton,
FL: Taylor & Francis Group. xvi, 224 pp.
DOI: 10.1177/0734016808322261
This collection of 10 original essays adds to a plethora of recent books that are available
to students of the death penalty. In the early 1980s, I believe I could say that I had read
every nonfiction book on capital punishment that had been published in the United States
in the 20th century. Now I can’t keep up with even a small portion of what is published.
But when established authorities like Robert Bohm come out with a new book, death
penalty scholars know it belongs to their reading lists.
The book begins with a chapter by Bohm that provides an overview of the causes of erro-
neous convictions in capital cases and various remedies that offer promise in reducing their
frequency. This is one of three chapters in the book that examine different aspects of
wrongful convictions. Talia Roitberg Harmon discusses 18 executions since 1977 that con-
tain compelling claims of factual innocence, although, as she notes, what is compelling to
one person may not be so compelling to another. Her goal is to tabulate the reasons why
some believe the inmate may have been innocent and to compare the cases with other
570 Criminal Justice Review

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