(Radelet, Michael L - 2012) -- BFA Award for Excellence in Research, Scholarly and Creative Work
Overview
description
Professor Radelet is one of the leading death penalty scholars in the world today. He was one of the first in the modern era to report a now-familiar finding: the race of the victim in homicide cases, not the race of the defendant, has the strongest impact on death penalty decisions. In other studies, Professor Radelet has documented the conviction for homicide of hundreds of people later proven innocent. His research has had enormous impact, having been introduced in appeals of hundreds of death row inmates and helping to convince Illinois governor George Ryan to commute 167 death sentences in 2003. Overall, his research has had remarkable influence on public policy and legal debates. Professor Radelet has been chair of the sociology department and a visiting professor at the University of Westminster in London. One colleague commented that Professor Radelet’s research “has been widely disseminated and put into the arena of public debate,” thus highlighting a distinguished and integrated long-term achievement. Another wrote, “There is nobody working in the area of capital punishment, whether as attorney, policy advocate, or scholar, who is unaware of his contributions.”
