The death penalty in America: current controversies

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.