RObert Hodder, Memorial Univ. Of Newfoundland Lib., St. John's
The sheer weight of reasonable doubt in this case makes one wonder at the trial and appeals process in death penalty cases where the accused lack the financial resources for competent legal representation.  Jeff Dicks id down to his last appeal.  this book written by his mother, brings home shockingly the best argument against capital punishment -- that even after a "fair" trial an innocent person might be put to death.  Dicks's own account is both a cry of anguish and a testimony to the lengths a mother will go to try to save the life of her child.

Jeff is not a savage killer with a long rap sheet. He is a naive kid who found himself in the wrong company, at the wrong place and time.  Dicks argues that the proficiency of the law enforcement agencies, judicial system press and legal profession are at best questionable and more possibly prejudiced, maybe even corrupt.  She convinces the reader that the bungled defense of her son because he could not afford a better lawyer are prevalent in similar cases.  Recommended for true crime collections.

The fifty contributors to this powerful collection of essays eloquently call for an end to the death penalty.  Shirley Dicks's son, Jeff was involved in a  robbery attempt that resulted in the death of a shopkeeper. A bungled defense led to his conviction for murder, he has been on death row since 1979.  Dicks has become bitterly aware that justice in America is dealt out not blindly but selectively.  As she writes in the Introduction, 'People have been sentenced to not because they have been found to be uncontrollably violent but because they were hopelessly poor.  They are the losers in an arbitrary lottery.  You won't find a wealthy person on death row.  A system like this does not enhance respect for human life, it cheapens and degrades it."

Congregation of the Condemned features writings by inmates, members of victims' families, legal and medical experts, religious and political figures, actors, journalists, and from such noted organizations as the ACLU and the NAACP.  Contributors include Senator Edward Kennedy, Mike Farrell, Mario Cuomo, Hugo Bedau, Tom Wicker, Peter Gabriel, Watt Espy, Coretta Scott King, and many others.  These essays call for a distinction between justice and revenge, perhaps best summed up by the mother of one crime victim: "If you can't give me back my child in life, don't kill in his name."

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Victims