Murder Stories: Ideological Narratives in Capital Punishment

Murder Stories is a fascinating book that decodes the narratives told about murderers during the penalty phase of capital trials, and the permeation of these narratives with fundamental elements of American ideology. It sheds light on the endurance of the death penalty in the U.S., but more centrally on the powerful strategic and ideological work done by murder narratives, and on the complex relationship between ideology and punishment.

Murder Stories is a theoretically sophisticated book and Kaplan’s analysis is distinctive. Kaplan uses death penalty stories to illustrate the complexities and contradictions of capital punishment in the United States and to reflect on the cultural conditions which sustain it. This book is a compelling read and makes a truly important contribution to the existing literature.

Paul Kaplan’s timely study of capital punishment narratives is overflowing with empirical and theoretical insights into how the death penalty is ideologically constructed, why it has been retained in the United States for so long, and how to it might one day be ideologically deconstructed. Based on extensive archival analysis and interviews from three of the largest counties in California, Kaplan’s ambitious book brilliantly critiques not only the death penalty system in America but more generally the modern liberal legal order and makes important and original contributions to our understanding of the narrative logic of American capital punishment and how it perpetuates racialized inequality through these narratives. Kaplan’s well-written book provides a rich data set and even richer analysis of the everyday world of death penalty trials, an analysis which will be of great interest to a wide range of scholars in the social sciences, humanities and law. Bottom line: Paul Kaplan’s Murder Stories: Ideological Narratives in Capital Punishment is the best book ever written about the ideological nature and logic of the American death penalty.

This is a study of the “murder stories” offered by participants in a large number of capital trials in California in the 1990s. Kaplan (San Diego State Univ.) explores how these accounts are framed so as to fit into widely held conceptions of justice within the American creed. The importance of these stories is literally a matter of life and death. To obtain a capital conviction or to avoid one, or to obtain a death sentence at a sentencing trial, both prosecutors and defense attorneys construct narratives that they hope will resonate with the jury. The prosecutor’s task is to make the actions of the defendant “understandable” in ways that he or she is seen to be beyond redemption and thus subject to the death penalty. In turn the defense attorney must develop a script that humanizes the accused or offender so that while his behavior may be terrible, it is “understandable” in light of circumstances, and so that a modicum of mercy may be extended. This is a stunning book that shows the complexities and contradictions of capital punishment and at the same time reveals why capital punishment is so deeply ensconced in the American creed. Summing Up: Highly recommended.