Book Review: Sorensen, J., & Pilgrim, R. L. (2006). Lethal Injection: Capital Punishment in Texas During the Modern Era. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, pp. 233

• Published date: 01 December 2007
• Date: 01 December 2007
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0734016807310660
• Subject Matter: Articles

and the influence of “special interests.” He suggests that the California public’s decision to

support Three Strikes was the result of a misguided, irrational social movement. Finally,

Kieso offers policy recommendations, in particular the abolition or amendment of Three

Strikes and major modifications to the initiative process.

Compared to most research articles about Three Strikes and its impacts in the criminology

literature, this study uses relatively simple data analysis, consisting primarily of cross-

tabulations of inmate data, aggregated by county or categories of counties. The data presenta-

tion could have been improved through simplification (e.g., showing only totals for violent,

property, and drug offenses, rather than data on more than 35 separate crimes in several

tables) and inclusion of measures of statistical significance which are absent.

This work’s most useful contribution to the literature is its presentation of qualitative and

quantitative data to provide evidence of the tremendous intercounty and intracounty dispari-

ties in the implementation of what was intended to be a statewide law. Although Kieso asserts

that this randomness is secondary to the larger problem of sentencing disproportionality, the

book offers stronger evidence to illustrate the magnitude of the former concern.

The book’s greatest weakness as a scholarly publication is the author’s frequent tendency

to overstate his case, which detracts from the strength of his underlying arguments. In terms

of writing style, the book’s chapters are loosely connected in places, and the level of detail

fluctuates widely between sections. Finally, the volume would have benefited from addi-

tional editing to eliminate distracting typographical errors and to remove unnecessary details,

especially in the county case studies.

Elsa Y. Chen

Santa Clara University

Sorensen, J., & Pilgrim, R. L. (2006). Lethal Injection: Capital

Punishment in Texas During the Modern Era. Austin, TX:

University of Texas Press, pp. 233

DOI: 10.1177/0734016807310660

Texas’s prolific pursuit of the death penalty is well known. They consistently lead the

nation in death sentences handed down and executions, even as other states move away

from capital punishment. This raises several questions: Why does Texas pursue the death

penalty with such vigor? Does it deter criminals? How does a state benefit from an aggressive

capital punishment system? In Lethal Injection: Capital Punishment in Texas During the

Modern Era, Jon Sorensen and Rocky Leann Pilgrim examine Texas’s capital punishment

system in the modern era, addressing these questions and many more in their latest contri-

bution to the study of capital punishment. There is more to this book than a simple summary

of relevant empirical studies. The authors incorporate their own studies to fill in gaps in the

literature and add texture through narratives of key capital cases in Texas.

Sorensen and Pilgrim begin with a brief history of capital punishment in the modern era,

with particular emphasis on Texas. This background information sets up the following

chapters, which cover three main themes—deterrence, incapacitation, and retribution.

Book Review(s) 461