The Volunteer

The Failure of the Death Penalty in America and One Inmate's Quest to Die with Dignity

By: Gianna Toboni

Narrated by: Gianna Toboni

A riveting account of one inmate’s quest to die on death row—and a fearless look at a system of punishment that has failed the public it claims to serve.

When Scott Dozier was sent to Nevada’s death row in 2007, convicted of a pair of grisly murders, he didn’t cry foul or embark upon a protracted innocence campaign. He sought instead to expedite his execution—to hasten his inevitable death. He decided he would rather face his end swiftly than die slowly in solitary confinement. In volunteering for execution, Dozier may have been unusual. But in the tortuous events that led his death date to be scheduled and rescheduled, planned and then stayed, his time on death row was anything but.

In The Volunteer, Emmy Award–winning investigative reporter Gianna Toboni traces the twists and turns of Dozier’s story, along the way offering a hard look at the history and controversy that surround the death penalty today. Toboni reveals it to be a system rife with black market dealings and supply chain labyrinths, with disputed drugs and botched executions. Today’s death penalty, generally carried out through lethal injection, has proven so cumbersome, ineffective, and potentially harrowing that some states have considered a return to the electric chairs and firing squads of the past, believing those approaches to be not only more effective but more humane.

No matter where you stand on the morality of capital punishment, there’s no denying that the death penalty is failing the American public. With costs running into the billions and countless lives kept in limbo, it has proven incapable of achieving its desired end: executing the inmates that fellow Americans have deemed guilty of the most heinous crimes. With The Volunteer, Toboni offers an insightful and profound look at how the death penalty went so terribly wrong. A spellbinding story down to its shocking conclusion, it brings to light the horrifying realities of state-sanctioned killings—realities that many would prefer to ignore.©2025 Gianna Toboni (P)2025 Simon & Schuster Audio

Interesting and Gripping True Story

This is a fascinating story of a prisoner on death row. It is told with skill and thoughtfulness. I had trouble putting it down. I could not wait to find out the next episode in this interesting and gripping story. I highly recommend the book.

didn't want to put it down

its verification, our prison system has not worked in decades. Capitol punishment should no longer be part of our culture.

Page turner couldn’t it down

Amazing. Just great insight into a broken system. Everyone should read. Captivating non-fiction that reads like a novel.

Outstanding Compassion

Informative, interesting book!
Tore through it...
Appreciate the informed perspectives. Her research, interviews with prisoners, wardens, lawyers and witnesses is essential to examining this case.
With brilliance and humanity, she shines a light on the lives of the incarcerated. She bravely questions a society that kills its own citizens.

This is a true story. We tax payers are being taken for a ride once again.

This is a true story. We tax payers are being taken for a ride once again by our government. The people that work within the NDOC are all incompetent imbisals. This story is very disturbing. Author and reader; same person did a great job, too bad wr could not say the same for the Ely prison officials at the time and the NDOC.

Outstanding story.

Having read numerous books on the same or similar topics, it is proof yet again that justice is more often than not nothing less than injustice nowadays. So many systems and institutions are failing, broken and corrupted.

Story deserved a better telling

It's rare that long form journalism starts with "let me tell you about me and why I like this story," yet that is what Toboni has dones. Most don't do it because it doesn't work. Toboni is no different.

Once past her ego stroking, things pick up a bit, but get lost in what I thought was satire.

The story deserved better.