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A man is scheduled to die. The question is whether he should.
The Boy from Bed-Stuy is a searing, meticulously documented account of Shawn Rogers-a man sentenced to death for a brutal prison killing-and the life that led him there. From a childhood shaped by foster care, poverty, head trauma, and institutional failure to the violence that changed multiple lives forever, this book confronts the full truth of what happened without softening its edges.
Drawing on court records, medical evidence, and firsthand testimony, it presents an unvarnished portrait of a human being who is both responsible for a devastating crime and shaped by forces far beyond his control. It is not a plea for sympathy. It is an argument about justice, accountability, and the moral weight of the death penalty in America.
Uncompromising and deeply human, The Boy from Bed-Stuy invites readers to confront a difficult question: When the system has failed at every step, what do we owe the person it produced?
Jeff Hood
The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood is a theologian and spiritual advisor to death row inmates nationwide. He has accompanied over a dozen men to their executions and was the first spiritual advisor to be present for a nitrogen hypoxia execution. Rev. Hood has been profiled widely, including in the Rolling Stone documentary The Spiritual Advisor. He is the Founder of the Execution Intervention Project.
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