Table of Contents

Drawing the Lines
Who Lives and Who Dies?
An Introduction to Alvin Ford
Family Background, the Crime, and Trial
1953-1974
Anticipating and Enduring the First Death Warrant
1975-1981
Psychological Deterioration and the Road to the Supreme Court
1982-1986
Physicians, Mental Health Professionals, and the Death Penalty
Alvin Ford and the Courts
Additional Issues
Competence for Execution
The Supreme Court Speaks
Back to Federal Court
The 1988 Hearing and Beyond
The Cure That Kills