Effigy Images of Capital Defendants

Effigy examines the images of a capital defendant portrayed during the guilt and penalty phases of a capital trial, the trial tactics used by attorneys to impart these images, and the consequences that result from the jury's attempt to reconcile contradictory images to place one in permanent record as a verdict. These images are starkly contrasted against the backdrop of a brutal murder in which the stereotypes of American fear are realized: Donta Page, the defendant, is an African American male from a low-income segment of society while Peyton Tuthill, the victim, was a Caucasian female from a middle-income suburb.

Allison M. Cotton is assistant professor of criminal justice and criminology at the Metropolitan State College of Denver