America's experiment with capital punishment : reflections on the past, present, and future of the ultimate penal sanction

The third edition of America's Experiment with Capital Punishment has been expanded and updated to include several important developments since the publication of the second edition in 2003. New evidence is presented about the incidence of wrongful convictions, racial and geographical disparities in capital charging and sentencing practices, deterrence, trends in public opinion, jury decision-making, how the capital punishment process affects the families of both murder victims and offenders, the conditions and consequences of death row incarceration, the financial costs of capital punishment, executive clemency, and many other issues. Renewed attention is given to execution methods (focusing on lethal injection), capital punishment for persons with intellectual disabilities, and other matters of significance. Legal developments also are chronicled, including trends in the Supreme Court's interpretation and application of the "evolving standards of decency" and related Eighth Amendment principles, the prohibition against executing juvenile offenders, significant changes in federal habeas corpus policies, and the repeal of death-penalty statutes in several states. New chapters have been added to address the historical evolution of capital punishment (John Bessler), and the death penalty for persons with mental disabilities (Christopher Slobogin). Several additional authors have joined to produce the updated chapters.

The book's twenty-six chapters critically analyze the history, politics, law, empirical evidence, and principled underpinnings of the contemporary debate about the death penalty in America. They also assess likely future trends in capital punishment law and practice. Written by the country's leading legal and social science scholars, the chapters collectively represent the most comprehensive and illuminating treatment of death penalty issues presently available in a single volume.

PowerPoint slides are available upon adoption. Sample slides from the full, 112-slide presentation are available to view here . Email bhall@cap-press.com for more information.

"[I]t helps us reexamine our options that include highly flawed "reforms" and a death penalty that continues to be applied arbitrarily or the demise of the death penalty." -- Leona D. Jochnowitz, Criminal Law Bulletin

Introduction: America's experiment with capital punishment / James R. Acker, Robert M. Bohm, and Charles S. Lanier -- Capital punishment: public opinion, law, and politics -- Capital punishment law and practices: history, trends, and developments / John D. Bessler -- American death penalty opinion: past, present, and future / Robert M. Bohm -- Judicial developments in capital punishment law / Carol S. Steiker and Jordan M. Steiker -- Beyond human ability? The rise and fall of death penalty legislation / James R. Acker and Charles S. Lanier -- Politics of capital punishment: the sacrifice of fairness for executions / Stephen B. Bright -- The transformative influence of international law and practice on the death penalty in the United States / Richard J. Wilson -- The justice and utility of the capital sanction -- Roots / Robert Blecker -- Justice, deterrence, and the death penalty / Ernest van den Haag -- Is capital punishment an effective deterrent for murder? An examination of social science research / Ruth D. Peterson and William C. Bailey -- Is capital punishment an effective deterrent for murder? an updated review of research and theory / Robert Apel, Samuel E. DeWitt, & Rose Bellandi -- Future dangerousness / Mark D. Cunningham & Jonathan R. Sorensen -- Women and children first / Victor L. Streib -- Intellectual disability, mental illness and the death penalty / Christopher Slobogin -- The execution of the innocent / Michael L. Radelet and Hugo Adam Bedau -- Administration of the death penalty -- The capital defense attorney / Andrea D. Lyon -- Stacking the deck for guilt and death: the failure of death qualification to ensure impartiality / Marla Sandys, Sara M. Walsh, Heather Pruss, & Dylan Cunningham -- The life or death sentencing decision: it's at odds with constitutional standards; is it beyond human ability? / William J. Bowers, et. al. -- Mitigation and the study of lives: on the roots of violent criminality and the nature of capital justice / Craig Haney -- Race discrimination and the death penalty: an empirical and legal overview / Catherine M. Grosso, Barbara O'Brien, Abijah Taylor, & George Woodworth -- Federal habeas corpus in capital cases / Eric M. Freedman -- The issue of costs in the death penalty debate / Richard C. Dieter -- Terminal stages of the penalty of death -- The role of health and mental health professionals in the capital punishment process / Steven K. Erickson & Charles Patrick Ewing -- The impact of the death penalty on the families of homicide victims and of condemned prisoners / Margaret Vandiver -- Life under sentence of death: historical and contemporary perspectives / Robert Johnson & Harmony Davies -- The evolving role of clemency in capital cases / Daniel T. Kobil -- America's experiment with execution methods / Deborah W. Denno.