The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle explained

The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923–1990 is a 1993 book by James W. Marquart, Sheldon Ekland-Olson, and Jonathan R. Sorensen that examines capital punishment in Texas.

The book considers the historical administration of the Texas death penalty through both statistical and anecdotal analysis.^[1] The authors argue that the execution rate in Texas is a symptom of the "cultural tradition of exclusion" in the Southern United States. They found there was an inverse relationship between the number of executions and lynchings. When the number of lynchings declined, the execution rate went up. Executions, they argue, are a way to continue to "dehumanize" and "exclude" certain groups from normal society.^{[2] [3] [4]}

The book was published by the University of Texas Press in 1993 .

External links

• The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923–1990 at University of Texas Press

Notes and References

1. [Austin Sarat]
2. Ned Walpin, "Why Is Texas #1 in Executions", Frontline (accessed 2014-01-07).
3. Michael Graczyk, "Death penalty remains strong in Texas", Associated Press in USA Today, January 4, 2008.
4. Eric W. Rise, Review of The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923–1990, Law and History Review, vol. 14, no. 2, p. 393 (Fall 1996) (subscription required).