RADFORD -- Radford University criminal justice professor Mary Atwell will discuss her latest book, Wretched Sisters: Examining Gender and Capital Punishment, on the statewide public radio program With Good Reason on Nov. 17-23.

Program times and stations are listed on the With Good Reason Web site at withgoodreasonradio.org/

In Wretched Sisters, Atwell examines in detail 11 death penalty cases involving women and explains common themes that reflect how the criminal justice system often defines crimes committed by women. 

The United States reinstated the death penalty in 1976 and since, 11 women have been executed for murders. Each of those cases involves a "personal story with unique tragic elements," Atwell said.

Atwell researched Wretched Sisters over three years and traveled to each state where the trials had taken place. Her research relied on official and unofficial sources, such as trial transcripts, briefs and media reports. Five RU graduate students helped with the book research.

Atwell is a criminal justice professor at RU and is the author of Equal Protection of the Law? Gender and Justice in the United States and Evolving Standards of Decency: Popular Culture and Capital Punishment. She holds a Ph.D. in history from Saint Louis University and came to RU in 1988 and joined the university's criminal justice department in 1993.