Introduction: starting to think about finality in capital cases Austin Sarat; 1. Finality and the capital/non-capital punishment divide Carissa Byrne Hessick; 2. Following finality: why capital punishment is collapsing under its own weight Corinna Barrett Lain; 3. The time it takes to die and the 'death' of the death penalty: untimely meditations on the end of capital punishment in the United States Jennifer L. Culbert; 4. Grand finality: post-conviction prosecutors and capital punishment Daniel S. Medwed; 5. Existential finality: dark empathy, retribution, and the decline of capital punishment in the United States Daniel LaChance; Afterword: death and the state Jenny Carroll.

This book examines the meaning and significance of finality in capital cases.