The Death Penalty: America's Experience with Capital PunishmentThis book addresses one of the most controversial issues in the criminal justice system today—the death penalty. Paternoster et al. present a balanced perspective that focuses on both the arguments for and against capital punishment. Coverage draws on legal, historical, philosophical, economic, sociological, and religious points of view. Topics include: * The history of the death penalty in the United States, from the 1600s to today * The changing nature of the death penalty—changes in the types of crimes that warranted the penalty, the procedures employed to put capital offenders on trial, and the methods used to impose death * Constitutional/legal issues surrounding the death penalty * The influence of race on the administration of the death penalty, both in the past and in the present * Justifications for and against the death penalty (retribution, cost, public safety, and religious arguments) * Questions about the execution of innocents, exonerated capital offenders, and flaws in the operation of the death penalty * Public opinion and the death penalty * The death penalty and international law and practice * The future of the death penalty in America |
Contents
Discussion Questions | 23 |
Methods of Execution in the Modern Period | 53 |
Location of the Death Penalty in the Modern Period | 59 |
Copyright | |
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aggravating factors alty American appeals argued armed robbery Baldus black offenders capital crime capital murder capital offense capital punishment capital sentencing capital statutes capital trial claim committed constitutional convicted County cruel and unusual death pen death penalty Death Penalty Information death penalty statutes death row death sentence death-eligible defendant defense counsel degree murder deterrent effect discretion DNA testing Eighth Amendment electric chair electrocution evidence exonerated fact federal Florida Gallup Organization Georgia guilty homicide imposed imprisonment innocent person issue jury killer Law Review lawyers lethal injection level of aggravation lynchings McCleskey McGautha ment mentally retarded method of execution Modern Period moral North Carolina number of executions parole Penalty Information Center penalty phase percent police prison procedural prosecutors put to death race racial discrimination racial disparity Radelet rape sentenced to death South Southern tence Texas tion U.S. Supreme Court unconstitutional United unusual punishment Virginia white offenders