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Gianna Toboni’s book, The Volunteer: The Failure of the Death Penalty in America and One Inmate’s Quest to Die with Dignity, is a morally provocative chronicle about Scott Dozier, a former Army Ranger, who was sentenced to death, and “volunteered” for the death penalty.  Dozier had been convicted of murder, sentenced to death, and ultimately demanded the state enforce its own penalty.  

What unfolds in Toboni’s book is a story not just about death, but also about the bureaucratic, moral, and psychological theater that surrounds it.  As the book makes clear, Dozier was not a hero or a martyr.  Nonetheless, in Dozier’s story Toboni has put a magnifying glass on the contradictions of a system that claims to value life, even while enforcing the ultimate penalty, death.  

Toboni is an Emmy-award winning journalist and documentary film maker.  The Volunteer, her debut book, was published by Simon and Schuster in April 2025.  We’re grateful she included the JustPod among other notable stops (including The Daily Show and Comedy Central!) on her first book tour.