In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

193 Introduction II Regional Analysis of the Death Penalty A merica developed regionally and much of death penalty practices followed. Regions have histories and much of the literature of state law acknowledges the regional heritage. The essays that follow are regional in nature and develop the most significant themes of death penalty practice in that context. Regional analysis drew heavy scholarly attention in the 1930s. Michael C. Steiner found that Americans needed a sense of place amid the intense and pervasive fear of rootlessness and disorder during the Great Depression.1 Scholars of anthropology, geography, history, political science , and sociology turned their analytical pens to regional analysis.2 Merrill Jensen’s Regionalism in America (1951) brought regional studies out of depression concerns and to a national scholarly audience.3 Region was a conceptual construct whether regarded as a geographic area or a cultural unity. It also was a community of people held together by functions and shared values. Most importantly, regional studies as a frame of reference for comparative study of society held the most promise for future scholarship. George B. Tindall writing in 1960 was not as optimistic as Jensen about the future of regionalism , but he found some utility in the enterprise. First, the sectionalism of America suggested by Frederick Jackson Turner held promise in the study of politics and economics. Second, literary regionalism in American letters was clearly distinct . Finally, sociologists using regionalism as an integrated approach to the analysis of society and culture were on the right track. Those were the limits of utility by Tindall’s lights.4 The 1970s moved regional studies out of the symposium mode and into the monographic analysis. Raymond D. Gastil’s Cultural Regions of the United States (1975) identified thirteen major cultural regions in our borders. Specific cultural markers such as religion and voting behavior unified these regions. They also had common social indicators such as crime and educational levels .5 Yi-Fu Tuan’s Space and Place (1977) moved the conversation to collective memory in place and time. Tuan offered, “Place is an archive of fond memories and splendid achievements that inspire the present; place is permanent and hence reassuring to man, who sees frailty in himself and chance and flux everywhere.”6 Region was broadly defined and criminal law was part of the analytic matrix. Scholars firmly founded in regionalism started to narrow the focus to particular regions and call for a “new regionalism.” Regionalism and the Pacific Northwest (1983) was the product of another symposium and the pens of prominent historians. In particular, Richard Maxwell 194 Gordon Morris Bakken Brown’s call for a “new regionalism” was focused on personal and family identity telescoped into identity of a region. Brown’s two most significant books ­ focused on American crime and violence, Strain of Violence: Historical Studies of American Violence and Vigilantism (1975) and No Duty to Retreat: Violence and Values in American History andSociety(1991).RobinWinks,authorofnumerous books including Modus Operandi: An Excursion into Detective Fiction (1982), argued that regionalism must be studied within a framework of culture, economics, geography, and history. Most importantly, Winks offered that interpretative judgments about cultural characteristics only have validity when compared with other representative regions.7 Death penalty studies can gain a great deal when set in regional focus. Tuan’s thoughts about personal identity and place, like Richard Maxwell Brown’s observation about identity and the identification of region, called for more personal, more cultural research. Barbara Allen and Thomas J. Schlereth’s Sense of Place: American Regional Cultures (1990) moved in that direction. Its authors adopted folklore methodology to tease out meaning. Stories and memories test regional identity in search of a sense of distinctiveness.8 Glen E. Lich’s anthology , Regional Studies: The Interplay of Land and People (1992), focused on similar themes and included linguistics and religion as well as gender in the matrix.9 Politics and distinctiveness as a species of representation also is part of regionalism. Edward L. Ayers’s All Over the Map: Rethinking American Regions (1996) makes clear that regional identities emerged from politics, particularly opposition to the federal government’s intrusion into state jurisdiction.10 Deborah A. Rosen’s American Indians and State Law: Sovereignty, Race, and Citizenship , 1790–1880 (2007) is in agreement. In fact, the states extend their criminal law and the death penalty over the tribes whether on reservations or on state land to 1880. Rosen uses regional analysis as well as state-specific case studies to interpret...

Share