Health and Human Sciences

Social Work professor researches the affect of capital punishment on inmate's families

2/9/2007

Elizabeth Beck, associate professor of social work, along with co-authors Sarah Britto and Arlene Andrews, recently published In the Shadow of Death: Restorative Justice and Death Row Families.  The book explores the needs of families affected by murder and capital punishment.  Beck and her colleagues examined the concept of restorative justice -- how it can bring healing to the families of the victim, the death row offender, and the community at large.  The researchers focused on the needs of the offender’s family, how their lives are torn apart by the offenders’ time on death row and execution, tapping into the enormous social welfare implications of ignoring these needs.  Families of the inmate - especially parents -- frequently feel responsible for the loved one’s actions, young children of the offender do not understand what’s happened to their parent and why this person is gone and how frequently the offender’s families empathize with the victim’s family despite being on opposite sides of the case.

 For more information on this publication, see the Oxford Press website at: http://www.oup.com.