On death row, the poorest, the most numerous, without family and without a lawyer worthy of the name, are sometimes executed even before all their recourses have been exhausted. Their destiny will join the modesty of prison cemeteries. In Texas, their number engraved on the cement stone begins with 999… Out of 50 American states, 34 still practice the death penalty. Why and how? The author conducted an investigation that took him to California, Utah, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi and Pennsylvania. A human dive into the heart of American society and its judicial system, through the meeting of prisoners sentenced to death, lawyers, or families of victims. This fascinating book deconstructs with finesse the American myth of fair and infallible justice: from deplorable conditions of confinement to daily abuse, from random legal recourse to political and judicial manipulation. Beyond a sentence, the death penalty appears as a torture with many faces. Moreover, in an America on the move, some signals seem to indicate that abolition is on the way.