The Death Penalty in America
Subtitle: Current Controversies
By: edited by Hugo Adam Bedau
Contributors: H. A. Bedau; Phoebe C. Ellsworth; Samuel R. Gross; Richard C. Dieter; William C. Bailey; Ruth D. Peterson; James W. Marquart; Jonathan R. Sorensen; David A. J. Richards; Stephen B. Bright; Leigh B. Bienen; Joseph L. Hoffman; Larry Myers; Henry Schwarzchild; Robert R. Bryan; Susan Blaustein; H. Wayne House; John Howard Yoder; Ernest van den Haag; U.S. General Accounting Office
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 524
Subjects: Capital punishment -- United States
First sentence: The death penalty continues to make headlines across the nation, perhaps more than at any time in this century.
Description: All the text that follows is from the back cover: 

The most comprehensive sourcebook on the death penalty available. In The Death Penalty in America: Current Controversies, Hugo Adam Bedau, one of our preeminent scholars on the subject, provides a comprehensive sourcebook 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 -- which The New York Times praised as "the most complete, well-edited and comprehensive collection of readings on the pros and cons of the death penalty" -- this volume brings together an entirely new selection of 30 essays; including updated statistical and research data, recent Supreme Court decisions, and the best current contributions to the debate over capital punishment. 

From the status of the death penalty worldwide to current attitudes of Americans toward convicted killers, from legal arguments challenging the constitutionality of the death penalty to moral arguments enlisting the Bible in support of it, from controversies over the role of race and class in the judicial system to proposals to televise executions, Bedau gathers readings that explore all the most powerful aspects of this compelling issue.

Hugo Adam Bedau is Austin Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 471-500) and index.
Also includes table of cases.

Chapter 1 appears before Part 1 in the book. Part 1 begins with chapter 2.
Table of contents: pagenum: xi
class: section
title: Table of Contents; pagenum: xv
class: part
title: Tables; pagenum: xix
class: part
title: Figures; title: Backgrounds and Developments
pagenum: 3
class: part
label: 1; title: The Laws, the Crimes, and the Executions
class: part
label: I; title: Offenses Punishable by Death
pagenum: 36
class: part
label: 2; label: 3
pagenum: 42
class: part
title: Proposed State Death Penalty Legislation, 1994; title: Criminal Homicide
pagenum: 55
class: part
label: 4; title: Death Row Prisoners
pagenum: 65
class: part
label: 5; title: The Status of the Death Penalty Worldwide
pagenum: 78
class: part
label: 6; label: II
class: part
title: The Controversy over Public Support for the Death Penalty: The Death Penalty vs. Life Imprisonment; label: 7
pagenum: 90
class: part
title: Hardening of the Attitudes: Americans' Views on the Death Penalty - Phoebe C. Ellsworth, Samuel R. Gross; label: 8
pagenum: 116
class: part
title: Sentencing for Life: Americans Embrace Alternatives to the Death Penalty - Richard C. Dieter; title: The Controversy over Deterrence and Incapacitation
class: part
label: III; title: Murder, Capital Punishment, and Deterrence: A Review of the Literature - William C. Bailey, Ruth D. Peterson
pagenum: 135
class: part
label: 9; title: A National Study of the Furman-Commuted Inmates: Assessing the Threat to Society from Capital Offenders - James W. Marquart, Jonathan R. Sorensen
pagenum: 162
class: part
label: 10; label: 11
pagenum: 176
class: part
title: Prison Homicides, Recidivist Murder, and Life Imprisonment - H. A. Bedau; label: IV
class: part
title: The Controversy over Constitutionality; label: 12
pagenum: 189
class: part
title: Furman v. Georgia, 1972: The Death Penalty as Administered Is Unconstitutional; label: 13
pagenum: 196
class: part
title: Gregg v. Georgia, 1976: The Death Penalty Is Not Per Se Unconstitutional; title: Woodson v. North Carolina, 1976: Mandatory Death Penalties Are Unconstitutional
pagenum: 206
class: part
label: 14; label: 15
pagenum: 210
class: part
title: Coker v. Georgia, 1977: The Death Penalty for Rape Is Unconstitutional; label: 16
pagenum: 214
class: part
title: Constitutional Interpretation, History, and the Death Penalty - David A. J. Richards; title: Why the Death Penalty Is a Cruel and Unusual Punishment - H. A. Bedau
pagenum: 232
class: part
label: 17; label: 18
pagenum: 238
class: part
title: Habeas Corpus and Other Constitutional Controversies - H. A. Bedau; label: 19
pagenum: 246
class: part
title: International Human Rights Law and the Death Penalty in America - H. A. Bedau; label: V
class: part
title: The Controversy over Race and Class; title: McCleskey v. Kemp, 1987: A Racially Disproportionate Death Penalty System Is Not Unconstitutional
pagenum: 254
class: part
label: 20; title: Death Penalty Sentencing: Research Indicates Pattern of Racial Disparities - U.S. General Accounting Office
pagenum: 268
class: part
label: 21; title: Counsel for the Poor: The Death Sentence Not for the Worst Crime but for the Worst Lawyer - Stephen B. Bright
pagenum: 275
class: part
label: 22; label: VI
class: part
title: Controversies from Prosecutions to Execution; label: 23
pagenum: 319
class: part
title: "A Good Murder" - Leigh B. Bienen; label: 24
pagenum: 333
class: part
title: How American Juries Decide Death Penalty Cases: The Capital Jury Project - Joseph L. Hoffman; label: 25
pagenum: 344
class: part
title: Innocence and the Death Penalty: Assessing the Danger of Mistaken Executions; label: 26
pagenum: 361
class: part
title: An Appeal for Clemency: The Case of Harold Lamont Otey - Larry Myers; title: To See or Not to See: Televising Executions - Henry Schwarzchild, Robert R. Bryan
pagenum: 384
class: part
label: 27; title: Witness to Another Execution - Susan Blaustein
pagenum: 387
class: part
label: 28; label: 29
pagenum: 401
class: part
title: Millions Misspent: What Politicians Don't Say About the High Costs of the Death Penalty - Richard C. Dieter; title: The Death Penalty: For and Against
class: part
label: VII; title: The New Testament and Moral Arguments for Capital Punishment - H. Wayne House
pagenum: 415
class: part
label: 30; label: 31
pagenum: 429
class: part
title: Noah's Covenant, the New Testament, and Christian Social Order - John Howard Yoder; label: 32
pagenum: 445
class: part
title: The Death Penalty Once More - Ernest van den Haag; label: 33
pagenum: 457
class: part
title: A Reply to van den Haag - H. A. Bedau; pagenum: 471
class: part
title: Bibliography; pagenum: 501
class: part
title: Table of Cases; pagenum: 503
class: part
title: Index