In his book, Death Work: A study of the Modern Execution Process, Robert Johnson explores the impact and consequences of the death penalty in modern society. Through detailed descriptions, Johnson illustrates the impact of the death penalty on three primary prison groups (the prison guards, the condemned prisoners, and the executioners) and society.
The institutionalization of the killing process was an important component of the book's general theme. Johnson described the death penalty as an anachronism that survived in contemporary American society, despite society's popular view of itself as highly civilized, because the brutality and violence inherent in carrying out the death penalty was hidden from the general public's awareness. The impersonal formality provided by the systematic bureaucratization of executions allowed society to remain unaware of the execution process and, thereby, to deny its violence and brutality.
The author provided a brief history of capital punishment and its psychological and moral impact on society. Part one discussed past and present forms of execution. In the first two chapters, Johnson provided a brief survey of the evolution of executions from public events to the private, bureaucratic process it is today.
In part II, Waiting to die, Johnson discussed modern death rows and the experiences of death row inmates. He examined, in detail, the impact of death row confinement and its effect on the three primary prison groups. He paid special attention to the role confinement, under sentence of death, played in preparing prisoners for their execution. Part III presented a parallel view of the conditioning of the prison staff who controlled, secured, confined, and maintained the death row prisoners until their execution. Johnson examined the psychological and moral implications for society in part IV. He defined torture and punishment under the present justic
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