Choosing Mercy

Orbis Books 

What They're Saying About
Choosing Mercy

"...this is a brave, sustained and timely argument against capital punishment from one who has paid a heavy toll."
    Publishers Weekly

"As journalism, 'Choosing Mercy' is a major addition to the growing body of death penalty literature. Bosco deserves to be in the company of other morally grounded journalists on the execution beat 'Choosing Mercy' has a power not found in the prose of those authors: a narrative driven by both emotion and reason...Bosco's achievement is the rare one of opposing the death penalty not only intellectually but also emotionally-the emotions of mercy and compassion!"
    The Washington Post

"Bosco has created from the pain of her children's murder, a powerful and moving plea to abolish the death penalty. May her voice be heard far and wide."
    Newsday

"A surprising champion of this cause is someone who has summed up her position with the title of her recently published bookBosco writes (about) people who have suffered profound losses but who have dug down into their souls to forgiveI pray they are at the vanguard of a movement that will one day reconcile the U.S. with what so many other nations have concluded: The death penalty is no more than state-sponsored murder."
    The New York Daily News

"Bosco has channeled her grief into extensively researching and supporting the abolition of the death penaltyCourageously, she has been willing to take a stand that is not popular."
    The National Catholic Reporter

"This book is a testimonial both to Bosco's literary ability and her personal crusade for justice, mercy and truth."
    The Catholic Transcript

"The book's tone is striking. The emphasis is on mercy and compassion, rather than anger and retribution'Choosing Mercy' is an important contribution to the debate about the death penalty, which, Bosco says 'maybe the most wrenching moral dilemma of our time."
    The American Catholic

"The sole purposes of capital punishment are revenge and retributionAntoinette Bosco's new book will change both minds and hearts."
    Intermountain Catholic (Utah)

"'Choosing Mercy' takes the reader into prisons, to meetings with public defenders, and to the families of murder victims from California to Texas. Bosco has made contact with a fascinating constellation of people."
    Fairfield County Catholic

"Written in the spirit of 'Dead Man Walking,' this book by Antoinette Bosco conveys both the powerful personal experience of a mother whose son was murdered and a wealth of information about the criminal justice system in America."
    Death Penalty Information Center

"'Choosing Mercy' is a highly personal story, describing Bosco's experiences and those of other parents and relatives Bosco has encountered in campaigning for a criminal justice system that would honor victims by blending justice with mercy. A valuable supplement to more academic studies of this issue."
    Booklist, The American Library Association

"Ultimately she found that 'the pain of losing loved ones to murder is not lessened by the killing of another, not even when it is cloaked a justice and state sanctioned'"
    The Topeka Capital Journal

"[Bosco] speaks out boldly[her]vision of a humane and compassionate society is a salutary one that demands a hearing."
    Values & Visions Review Service

"Antoinette Boscopresents us with a host of persuasive voices opposing the death penalty, including families of murder victims'Choosing Mercy' has edges that cut to the heart and mind, leaving spaces for grace to enter in."
    The Pilot (Boston)

"Bosco, a journalist who is well able to tell her own story and to sustain the reader's interest...presents a grisly story of serious sin. The book not only inspires, but makes an articulate case against the death penalty."
    Church Bulletin

"Capital punishment can never, by its nature, strike at murder's roots. Only love can do that."
    The most Rev. Chrles J. Chaput, archbishop of Denver

"Compelling testimony to the radical nature of this love is found in Choosing Mercy Bosco has grasped the enormously transforming power of love."
    The Kansas City Star

"Part memoir, part current affairs, this is the story of Bosco's rise as a national figure against the death penalty, as well as an unsentimental look at the state of criminal justice in the United Statesthis is a moving account of a brave woman's journey of faith."
    Catholic Digest

"Bosco, a Catholic, does not want to see her son's young neighbor, who was convicted of the murders, put to death"My religious beliefs are my religious beliefs," she explained. "Mine tell me how I should live."
    The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Much of the book is Bosco's anger and grief after the death and the heavy toll the death of her child placed on her. As a journalist, however, she also writes in a clear context about 'wretchedness of how we kill in the name of justice.' She also give readers more than enough substantice research"
    Tinley Park Star

"This is an incredible story of forgiveness."
    The Sunday Star-Ledger
(Newark, NJ)

"her book is an eye opener. This is an extremely important book and must be the high point in the career of woman who did the hardest thing of all: She practiced what Jesus preached."
    Schola

"You might want to wear gloves to read ('Choosing Mercy'); it has some searing parts"
    The Mennonite

"('Choosing Mercy') becomes a timely explanation of the death penalty during the year when the federal government returned to executing its most dangerous criminals after a 38-year hiatus."
    The Indianapolis Star

"...pay careful attention to Ms. Bosco's argument against capital punishment, an argument informed by faith, tested and strengthened by her personal tragedy."
    The Long Island Catholic

"This book is well worth reading, whatever your views on the death penalty and the necessity of incarceration."
    Justicia, newsletter of Judicial Process Commission, Inc.

"Ms. Bosco expands the scope of her book to include a critique of various aspects of our deeply flawed criminal justice system(she) speaks of the challenge that faces usIn her writing and her appearances on panels around the country, she herself helps increase the momentum toward a moratorium on executions, with abolition as the eventual goal"
    America.

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