The death penalty in America : current controversies
In The Death Penalty in America: Current Controversies, Hugo Adam Bedau, one of our preeminent scholars on the subject, provides a comprehensive source-book on the death penalty, making the process of informed consideration not only possible but fascinating as well. No mere revision of the third edition of The Death Penalty in America (1982) this volume brings together an entirely new selection of 40 essays and includes updated statistical and research data, recent Supreme Court decisions, and the best current contributions to the debate over capital punishment
xvii, 524 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
9780195104387, 9780195122862, 0195104382, 0195122860
34282370
Background and developments
Part I. The laws, the crimes, and the executions. Offenses punishable by death ; Proposed state death penalty legislation, 1994 ; Criminal homicide ; Death row prisoners ; The status of the death penalty worldwide
Part II. The controversy over public support for the death penalty : the death penalty versus life imprisonment. Hardening of the attitudes : Americans' views on the death penalty / Phoebe C. Ellsworth, Samuel R. Gross
Sentencing for life : Americans embrace alternatives to the death penalty / Richard C. Dieter
Part III. The controversy over deterrence and incapacitation. Murder, capital punishment, and deterrence : a review of the literature / William C. Bailey, Ruth D. Peterson
A national study of the Furman-commuted inmates : assessing the threat to society from capital offenders / James W. Marquart, Jonathan R. Sorensen
Prison homicides, recidivist murder, and life imprisonment / H.A. Bedau
Part IV. The controversy over constitutionality. Furman v. Georgia, 1972 : the death penalty as administered is unconstitutional ; Gregg v. Georgia, 1976 : the death penalty is not per se unconstitutional ; Woodson v. North Carolina, 1976 : mandatory death penalties are unconstitutional ; Coker v. Georgia, 1977 : the death penalty for rape is unconstitutional ; Constitutional interpretation, history, and the death penalty / David A.J. Richards
Why the death penalty is a cruel and unusual punishment ; Habeas corpus and other constitutional controversies ; International human rights law and the death penalty in America / H.A. Bedau
Part V. The controversy over race and class. McCleskey v. Kemp, 1987 : a racially disproportionate death penalty system is not unconstitutional ; Death penalty sentencing : research indicates pattern of racial disparities / U.S. General Accounting Office
Counsel for the poor : the death sentence not for the worst crime but for the worst lawyer / Stephen B. Bright
Part VI. Controversies from prosecution to execution. The deadliest D.A. / Tina Rosenberg
How American juries decide death penalty cases : the Capital Jury Project / Joseph L. Hoffman
Innocence and the death penalty : assessing the danger of mistaken executions
An appeal for clemency : the case of Harold Lamont Otey / Larry Myers
To see or not to see : televising executions. Why KQED should win / Henry Schwarzschild ; Why KQED should lose / Robert R. Bryan
Witness to another execution / Susan Blaustein
Millions misspent : what politicians don't say about the high costs of the death penalty / Richard C. Dieter
Part VII. The death penalty : for and against. The New Testament and moral arguments for capital punishment / H. Wayne House
Noah's covenant, the New Testament, and Christian social order / John Howard Yoder
The death penalty once more / Ernest van den Haag
A reply to van den Haag / H.A. Bedau