Dead Men and Women Walking: Monsters of Death Row - Christopher Berry-Dee and Tony Brown
by Christopher Berry-Dee and Tony Brown
Anyone buying a book called "Dead Men and Women Walking: Monsters of Death Row" will probably not be surprised to find that it contains horrific and shocking accounts of human depravity and cruelty. Yet authors Christopher Berry-Dee and Tony Brown do not appear to have set out to deliberately shock their readers. Rather they have taken a methodical and in-depth look at some of the inmates of America's Death Rows, not sensationalising their crimes, but simply explaining how and why they are likely to end their days at the hands of the justice system.
The book starts with an extremely comprehensive overview of the statistics and methods of execution of prisoners in the USA. This section also contains a detailed account of how each method of execution (e.g. lethal injection, hanging and electrocution) is actually carried out.
The remainder of the book is an alphabetical list of present (and some past) inhabitants of Death Rows throughout America, men and women, with each entrant having a thumbnail description of his/her crimes. These descriptions vary in length from a few lines to a couple of pages and make chilling reading. Many of the names included in the book will be familiar to True Crime readers, however most will not.
I have to confess that once I'd got past the first chapter and seen the alphabetical format of the remainder of the book, my heart momentarily sank. It seemed as though I would be reading nothing more than a list of criminals and their various wrongdoings. At best, I envisioned myself getting bored, at worst sickened and numbed by a constant barrage of grisliness. In fact, neither happened. Quite the opposite, in fact - I found myself unable to put "Monsters of Death Row" down. Having always personally been strongly against the death penalty, I found myself wavering as I read case history after case history.
I felt that both authors came across as being in favour of capital punishment yet was impressed by their even-handedness - if they felt that a miscarriage of justice had taken place, they were not afraid to say so.
You may need a strong stomach to read this book and some of the atrocities described within will undoubtedly horrify, if not terrify. Most books in the True Crime genre cover just one crime/criminal - this one has dozens. "Monsters of Death Row" authors Berry-Dee and Brown seem impeccably qualified, the former being a seasoned True Crime author and founder of the Criminology Research Institute, the latter being the editor of The New Criminologist. Together they have produced a thought provoking, well researched and socially important commentary on a controversial subject, presenting their facts in a very readable way.
Publisher: Virgin Books
ISBN: 0 7535 0722 6
Price: £7.99 / $9.95 p/b
Date Reviewed: January 2003
My Rating: 4.5/5
