Abstract
In Part I of this Review, I present a brief summary of Mandery's book, providing readers a glimpse of the fascinating story A Wild Justice tells and the engaging prose with which it is written. In Part II, I do the same for Rosenbaum's book, distilling the argument in Paybackand excerpting illustrative passages to provide readers an idea of what they will be getting. In Part III, I use both books to explore the difference between retribution and revenge, and the role those notions play in the defense of the death penalty today. I conclude that while Rosenbaum is unpersuasive in making a normative case for revenge, he is right in arguing that retribution is just revenge by another name, raising serious questions about the punishment theory that is now the death penalty's primary defense.
Document Type
Book Review
Publication Date
2015
Recommended Citation
Corinna Barrett Lain, The Highs and Lows of Wild Justice, 50 Tulsa L. Rev. 503 (2015).