Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Subject of Execution: Defendant Narratives in American Capital Punishment.

本项目研究死刑案件中被告叙述的构建过程。 死刑案件往往产生两种类型的陈述的罪犯-一个“邪恶”的叙事和“减轻”的叙事。前者强调个人责任，淡化被告犯罪与造成犯罪的社会条件之间的联系，而后者则强调社会条件的决定性作用，从而淡化个人责任。 该研究将分析自格雷格（1976）以来，加州三个县（橙子、阿拉米达和圣地亚哥）所有导致死刑判决的死刑审判的审判记录和定罪后程序（直接上诉、人身保护令请愿书和宽大处理材料），特别关注被告的叙述。 PI还将对制作被告陈述的首都个案工作者进行大约50次深入访谈。 PI将开发资本叙事中的修辞特征的类型学，并描述这些叙事中意识形态的作用。

This project investigates the process of constructing defendant narratives in capital cases. Capital cases tend to produce two types of representations of the defendant-an "evil" narrative and a "mitigation" narrative. The former emphasizes individual responsibility by effacing the connection between the defendant's crime and the social conditions that caused it, while the latter downplays individual responsibility by emphasizing the deterministic effect of social conditions. The study will analyze trial transcripts and post-conviction proceedings (direct appeals, habeas corpus petitions, and clemency materials) in all capital trials that resulted in a death sentence in three California counties (Orange, Alameda, and San Diego) since Gregg (1976), with special attention to defendant narratives. The PI will also will conduct approximately 50 in-depth interviews among capital caseworkers who produce defendant narratives. The PI will develop typologies of rhetorical characteristics in capital narratives and to describe the role of ideologies within these narratives.