Document Type
Article
Language
eng
Format of Original
15 p.
Publication Date
6-2009
Publisher
Springer
Source Publication
Critical Criminology
Source ISSN
1205-8629
Original Item ID
doi: 10.1007/s10612-009-9076-x
Abstract
This article offers an epistemologically focused descriptive account of the “social history” in American death penalty defense advocacy. Under British scientific empiricism, sufficient investigation forms the basis for representations that aspire to be adequate to investigated realities. As defense advocates see it, however, the very idea of humanity resists the goal of epistemological finality that comes with empiricist adequation. I argue that the social history investigation instrumentalizes this aesthetic of investigation-then-representation, allowing advocates to affirm to themselves the humanity of their clients while sidestepping the goal of adequation.
Recommended Citation
Cheng, Jesse, "The Social History in Death Penalty Defense Advocacy" (2009). Social and Cultural Sciences Faculty Research and Publications. 107.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/socs_fac/107
Comments
Accepted version. Critical Criminology, Vol. 17, No. 2 (June 2009): 125-139. DOI. © 2009 Springer. Used with permission.
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