George Bush issues verdict over Betty Lou Beets case

[Teun A. van Dijk]

I also read that story here in Spain (probably in the same newspaper -- El Pais)
and am equally appalled, not only about the "legal" assassination of this woman
(who was said to be mentally disturbed as a result of the domestic violence of
the husbands she murdered), but also about the plain populist discourse of
governor Bush confirming the death penalty. And yes, I think the little we can
do about this as discourse analysts is to critically analyze and denounce such
discourse legitimating the barbaric act of capital punishment. But Bush won't
bother I guess. When I think that he might become president of the USA, I fear
we need stronger opposition than critical discourse analysis...

Here are some references that might be relevant, unfortunately only a few
related to discourse:

Barkan, S. E., & Cohn, S. F. (1994). Racial prejudice and support for the death
penalty by Whites. Special Issue: Race and punishment. Journal of Research in
Crime and Delinquency, 31(2), 202-209.

Bohm, R. M. (1990). Death-Penalty Opinions: A Classroom Experience and Public
Commitment. Sociological Inquiry, 60(3), 285-297.

Chappell, V. A. (1995). Expert Testimony, "Regular People," and Public Values:
Arguing Common Sense at a Death Penalty Trial. Rhetoric Review, 13(2), 391-408.

Dovidio, J. F., Smith, J. K., Donnella, A. G., & Gaertner, S. L. (1997).
Racial-Attitudes and the Death-Penalty. Journal of Applied Social Psychology,
27(16), 1468-1487.

Ellsworth, P. C., & Gross, S. R. (1996). Hardening of the attitudes: Americans'
views on the death penalty. Journal of Social Issues, 52(2), 19-52.

Haines, H. (1992). Flawed Executions, the Anti-Death Penalty Movement, and the
Politics of Capital-Punishment. Social Problems, 39(2), 125-138.

Mitchell, M., & Sidanius, J. (1995). Social Hierarchy and the Death-Penalty: A
Social-Dominance Perspective. Political Psychology, 16(3), 591-619.

Sarat, A. (1996). Narrative Strategy and Death-Penalty Advocacy. Harvard Civil
Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, 31(2), 353-381.

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Teun A. van Dijk
University of Amsterdam
Program of Discourse Studies

1999-2000:

Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Institut Universitari de Lingüística Aplicada (IULA)
La Rambla 32
08002 Barcelona, Spain

Phone: +34-93-272.1200 (home/casa)
FAX:   +34-93-272.0106 (home/casa)

E-mail: teun at hum.uva.nl
Home-page: http://www.hum.uva.nl/teun