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Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer's Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty

scott turow

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A gripping examination of the case for and against capital punishment by a respected criminal lawyer and celebrated novelist. In the words of Harvard Law Professor, Laurence H. Tribe--"Ultimate Punishment is the ultimate statement about the death penalty: to read it is to understand why law alone cannot make us whole."

As a respected criminal lawyer, Scott Turow has been involved with the death penalty for more than a decade, including successfully representing two different men convicted in death-penalty prosecutions. In this vivid account of how his views on the death penalty have evolved, Turow describes his own experiences with capital punishment from his days as an impassioned young prosecutor to his recent service on the Illinois commission which investigated the administration of the death penalty and influenced Governor George Ryan’s unprecedented commutation of the sentences of 164 death row inmates on his last day in office. Telling the powerful stories behind the statistics, as he moves from the Governor’s Mansion to Illinois’s state-of-the art “super-max†prison and the execution chamber, Ultimate Punishment has all the drama and intellectual substance of Turow’s bestselling fiction.

164 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,2003

This edition

Format
164 pages, Paperback
Published
August 1, 2004 by Picador USA
ISBN
9780312423735
ASIN
031242373X
Language
English

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scott turow

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 82 votes)
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82 reviews All reviews
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turatteu
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Very well done. If I hadn't already had a position in this issue, this world have gone a long way toward establishing my position. Mr. Turow is very convincing but not too heavy-handed. It does feel like he is advocating--as opposed to lasting out the arguments--but, since he isn't trying to hide that fact, I wasn't bothered by it. I was impressed by how practical and functional his arguments were. He did not rely on moral arguments and that gave him credibility for me. Recommended for anyone with an interest in the subject or who is on the fence on this issue.
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nuclearstudent
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This book wasn’t what I was expecting, but it does bring up some fair points. Especially those in regard to the racial injustice, the unfairness in who gets life and who gets death, and the overall wrongly convicted.

A good read, just slightly boring in some places.
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Erik_The_Red
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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A book that helped me clarify and articulate my own vague beliefs about the death penalty.
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deli_tiger
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Strong argument for monitoring of cases where the defendant has been remanded to death. Actual factual examples of cases before the Illinois Commission on the Death Penalty that were overturned due to several improper criminanl procedures, including suppression of evidence, trumped up charges, lies, deliberate with holding of information, filing of false reports and includes issues that the victims have to contend with. Recommended.
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Jayden
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Learned a lot but still not convinced to take a definitive stand on death penalty
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fork_king
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I wasn't sure what to expect, but this turned out to be a very good, thought-provoking look at the death penalty. Turow did an excellent job of depicting his own struggles in coming to a personal conclusion on the death penaalty, and in doing so, it really felt like a fair and balanced view. It definitely made me take a look at my own values.
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Vordhoshnn
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Scott Turow writes very clearly.I tried to keep an open mind,and was pleased that Turow presented a fair,balanced argument.I've read One L(non-fiction)as well as several of his novels.He's writing is vastly superior to that of John Grisham.
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purdystar
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Years ago I picked up this slender book. Subtitled "a lawyer's reflections on dealing with the death penalty," it relates Turow's experience handling a couple of death penalty appeals pro bono and serving on the Illinois commission that looked at the death penalty. He said he began as a "death penalty agnostic" -- not opposed, not for -- and ended up so concerned that the report he participated in led to Gov. Ryan's decision to declare a moratorium on the punishment.

This is a thoughtful discussion of the issues. And you already know that Turow can write in a way that keeps you reading!
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