LECTURE: PAUL KAPLAN
The Arlin M. Adams Center for Law and Society presents:
He Never had a Chance: Capital Defendants in Contexts of Racist Fear
Dr. Paul Kaplan
March 30, 2017
Susquehanna University
Although in many senses capital punishment is declining in America, use of the death penalty survives unabated in small pockets of the country, especially the collection of southern states that comprise the U.S. Bible Belt. A key factor driving death penalty activity in these communities is entrenched white fear of dangerous black and brown ‘outsiders.’ In his talk for the Adams Center, Professor Paul Kaplan discusses how capital mitigation—a sensibility that sees capital defendants as damaged human beings rather than terrifying monsters—offers an alternative to hegemonic narratives that sustain high rates of execution in parts of the American South.