Capital Punishment in America: A Balanced Examination (Revised)

This revised and updated Second Edition is an innovative, balanced, and comprehensive overview of capital punishment. It offers an unbiased examination of the death penalty, supported by statistics and Supreme Court cases, and followed by pro and con discussions. The book addresses every major issue relating to the death penalty including deterrence, racial impact, arbitrariness, its use on special populations, and methods of execution. Designed for the undergraduate and graduate level courses on the death penalty and capital punishment, and even ethics and law, this text challenges students to evaluate their beliefs and assumptions on each of the various issues surrounding this controversial subject. Each chapter begins with a primer of the issue to be discussed, followed by the data and critical documents necessary to make an educated assessment, and concludes with essays that offer differing viewpoints by some of the best minds in the country.New Material Added to the Second Edition: NEW updated data on deterrenceNEW data and articles on brutalization and costNEW cases and articles on the death penalty for juvenilesNEW case and articles on the death penalty for raping a childNEW chapter on methods of executionPreview Sample Chapters Now! Scroll to the Samples tab to download. Focuses on policy issues as opposed to caselaw exclusivelyProvides a concise introduction to all of the topics discussedOffers easy to use dataIncludes excerpts of critical documents including cases and opposing viewpointsContains discussion questions to ensure comprehension of material This text is suitable for courses on death penalty and capital punishment within the Criminal Justice department. It is also appropriate for Ethics programs and courses. The exhaustive nature of this book makes it suitable for graduate courses and the balanced and reader friendly approach makes it ideal for undergraduate courses as well. (c) 2012 568 pages