Legal Lynching is an impassioned rebuttal to advocates of the death penalty: legal executions are unjustly administered, are morally indefensible and fail to deter crime.

A comprehensive rejection of the knee-jerk solution to the rise in violent crime, Legal Lynching comprises a history of state-sponsored execution, a consideration of the statistical evidence, an examination of scriptural justification for the taking of a life, and, most chilling, the true-life stories of those condemned to die who were later found to be innocent.

With eloquent determination, Jackson examines the recent history of the death penalty. He reflects on high-profile cases, such as that of Mumia Abu-Jamal; assesses the state of the opposition movement; and reveals irrefutable discrepancies in the implementation of the death penalty based on race, class, sex, and geography. By giving lie to the notion that justice is administered blindly and fairly in the life-and-death cases, Jackson's exposition is an inspiring call to action.