Graduation Year

2026

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Politics and International Relations

Reader 1

Mar Golub

Reader 2

John Seery

Abstract

This paper analyzes how Nancy Hirschmann's feminist political theory of obligation and epistemic authority can serve as an interpretive framework for examining capital punishment jurisprudence, focusing on the landmark Supreme Court case Gregg v. Georgia (1976), which has shaped the contemporary legal standard for the death penalty. The scholarship of feminist critiques of capital punishment has primarily centered on the gendered and racial implications of the death penalty. This paper, however, seeks to examine how feminist theories of obligation and standpoint epistemology offer a distinctive lens for evaluating the normative and epistemic foundations of death penalty law. By drawing specifically on feminist political scholar Nancy Hirschmann, this paper demonstrates how feminist notions of recognition, obligation, and knowledge challenge the epistemic legitimacy of the United States Supreme Court in death penalty adjudication.

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This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.

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