Lethal Injection Gone Awry Renews Debate on Capital Punishment

The recent lethal injection nightmare in Oklahoma recharged the capital punishment discussion as the administered drug mixture caused prolonged agony for the inmate being executed ("Botched Oklahoma Execution Stirs Outrage, May Bring Changes," Los Angeles Times, April 30, 2014). As opposition to the death penalty increases, states are having difficulty finding drugs that will "paralyze an inmate and stop the heart," so unproven and undisclosed lethal drugs are becoming more commonplace.

Review selected hard copy and online library books and videos related to capital punishment at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a listed item, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library.

Use these subject words and phrases to find more in the library catalog:

• capital punishment
• death row

"Moyers and Company: And Justice for Some: Early Electric Chair Executions" (3:42 minutes) from the Films on Demand video database - Films Media Group, 2013.
Note: Login with your My LoneStar login or Lone Star College ID/library card barcode number to view the video off campus.
"Moyers and his guests discuss the botched execution of the William Kemmler, first person sentenced to the electric chair. Some Supreme Court justices have qualms about executions but feel they must upholding the Constitution." - producer summary

A Wild Justice: The Death and Resurrection of Capital Punishment in America by Evan J. Mandery - Norton, 2013.
call number: 345.73 Man
"Mandery (criminal justice, John Jay Coll.; Capital Punishment in America: A Balanced Examination) has written a tour de force examination of how the U.S. Supreme Court from 1963 to 1977 ruled on death penalty issues. Filled with information from the justices' private papers as well as extensive interviews with their clerks and with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund counsel (especially Anthony Amsterdam), this book is revelatory." - Library Journal review excerpt

Life without Parole: What Everyone Needs to Know [electronic resource] edited by Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., and Austin Sarat - New York UP, 2012.
call number: eBook Collection database book
Note: Login with your My LoneStar login or Lone Star College ID/library card barcode number to view the video off campus.
"Is life without parole the perfect compromise to the death penalty? Or is it as ethically fraught as capital punishment? This comprehensive, interdisciplinary anthology treats life without parole as "the new death penalty." Editors Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. and Austin Sarat bring together original work by prominent scholars in an effort to better understand the growth of life without parole and its social, cultural, political, and legal meanings." - publishers summary excerpt

Texas Abortion Law Affirmed

The latest ruling on abortion restrictions in Texas on March 27 affirmed the hospital admitting privileges provision for abortion providers, citing that "90% of women in Texas would still be able to find an abortion provider within 100 miles of home" although residents of less-populated areas of Texas may need to go farther for abortion services as a result of House Bill 2 signed into law in July 2013 ("Texas Abortion Limits Law Upheld by Appeals Court," Los Angeles Times, March 27, 2014).

Review selected hard copy and online library books and videos related to abortion, pro-life movement, contraception, and reproductive rights at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a listed item, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library.

Use these subject words and phrases to find more in the library catalog:

• abortion
• contraception
• pro-choice movement
• pro-life movement
• reproductive rights

"Moyers and Company: What's Fueling the Modern Abortion Debate?" from the Films on Demand video database - Films Media Group, 2013.
Note: Login with your My LoneStar login or Lone Star College ID/library card barcode number to view the video off campus.
"In this edition of Moyers and Company, Bill discusses the changing face of the reproductive rights movement and those it serves—as well as the success of social conservatives on the abortion front—with Jessica González-Rojas, executive director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, and Lynn Paltrow, founder and executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women." - producer summary excerpt

Generation Roe: Inside the Future of the Pro-Choice Movement by Sarah Erdreich - Seven Stories Press, 2013.
call number: on order
"Journalist and women's health advocate Erdreich delivers a passionate study of the past, current, and future state of the pro-choice movement in America. . . This is a thoughtful and comprehensive treatment of one side of an emotionally charged topic." - Publishers Weekly review excerpt

Reproductive Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know by Rickie Solinger - Oxford, 2013.
call number: 363.96 Sol
"Includes a concise, unbiased explanation of the historical (e.g., while before the mid-19th century, a woman could legally ask a physician or midwife to terminate her pregnancy, by 1910 almost every state had criminalized abortion), political, legislative, and judicial elements surrounding the issue. . . Researchers interested in the full context of abortion rights and other reproductive issues will appreciate this helpful guide." - Library Journal review excerpt

The Street Politics of Abortion: Speech, Violence, and America's Culture Wars by Joshua C. Wilson - Stanford Law Books, 2013.
call number: 363.46 Wil
"Wilson (political science, Univ. of Denver) chronicles the evolution of the anti-abortion movement from grassroots clinic protests to its present form as a highly organized and politically powerful collection of institutions. . . This is a thoughtful and well-documented history of the anti-abortion movement, not an analysis of the right or wrong of abortion." - Library Journal review excerpt

Prescription Drug Addiction and Its Consequences

When public figures such as Academy Award winner, Philip Seymour Hoffman, die from a drug overdose, the issue of addiction gets press coverage ("The Rise of Drug Overdoses in the US," BBC News, February 7, 2014). The latest reports on his death published at the end of February, show that he died from a combination of heroin, cocaine, benzodiazepines and amphetamines ("Philip Seymour Hoffman Died of Accidental Drug Overdose: Coroner," Los Angeles Times, February 28, 2014). However, the first article mentions that "in 2010, prescription drugs killed more than 22,100 people in the US, more than twice as many as cocaine and heroin combined."

Review selected hard copy and online library books and videos related to substance abuse, addiction, and drug use at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a listed item, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library.

Use these subject words and phrases to find more in the library catalog:

• addicts
• drug abuse
• drug control
• substance abuse

Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America's Greatest Tragedy by David Sheff - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.
call number: 362.29 She
"Sheff makes his case methodically and convincingly, finishing with a stark look at the failure of the War on Drugs-and a comparison to the far more effective wars on cancer and AIDS, fought with the weaponry of 'education and prevention, changing public policy, and improving treatment,' rather than 'interdiction, arrest, prosecution, and eradication.'" - Publishers Weekly review excerpt

By Some Miracle I Made It Out of There: A Memoir by Tom Sizemore with Anna David - Atria Books, 2013.
call number: B Sizemo (biography)
"Some Miracle I Made It Out of There is a harrowing journey into the heart of addiction, told in riveting and often shocking detail-a terrifying cautionary tale for anyone who's peered over the abyss of drug abuse." - publisher summary excerpt

Click the image above for a video
on prescription drug abuse.

"America's Secret Epidemic" from the Films on Demand video database - CNBC, 2011.
Note: Login with your My LoneStar login or Lone Star College ID/library card barcode number to view the video off campus.
"Nearly 48 million Americans abuse prescription drugs. It is the second most abused drug behind marijuana. It is estimated nearly 26,000 people die a year. Drug Czar, Gil Kerlikowske makes prescription drug abuse a top priority." - video clip summary