A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of 2007, this passionate work vividly illustrates the precarious position family members of capital offenders occupy in the criminal justice system. Histories of poverty, substance dependance, domestic violence, and mental illness converge in the courtroom, chronicling lives devastated even before a death sentence. They now live in the shadow of death, haunted by trauma, grief, and helplessness. While most resources are
understandably channeled to victims' families, In the Shadow of Death creates space for offenders' families in the justice system, and, by extension, an opportunity for healing on both sides of the courtroom.