The Death of Innocents

This is the sequel to 'Dead Man Walking and tells the stories of two men who were undoubtedly innocent of the crimes for which they were executed. At a time when the Catholic church is under close scrutiny, 'The Death of Innocents' critiques Catholic doctrine on the death penalty. Sr Helen Prejean has accompanied five men to execution since she began her work in 1982. She believes the last two, Dobie Williams in Louisiana and Joseph O'Dell in Virginia, were innocent, but their juries were blocked from seeing all the evidence and their defence teams were incompetent. 'The readers of this book will be the first "jury" with access to all the evidence the trail juries never saw', she says. The Death of Innocents shows how race, prosecutorial ambition, poverty and publicity determine who dies and who lives. Prejean raises profound constitutional questions about the legality of the death penalty.