Introduction : "If Timothy McVeigh doesn't deserve to die, who does?" -- The return of revenge : hearing the voice of the victim in capital trials -- Killing me softly : capital punishment and the technologies for taking life -- Capital trials and the ordinary world of state killing -- The role of the jury in the killing state -- Narrative strategy and death penalty advocacy : attempting to save the condemned -- To see or not to see : on televising executions -- State killing in popular culture : responsibility and representation in Dead man walking, Last dance, and The green mile -- Conclusion : Toward a new abolitionism.