Understanding capital punishment law

The primary emphasis of Understanding Capital Punishment Law is an explanation of the constitutional law that governs death penalty proceedings in the United States. As of 2017, the death penalty remains an option in 31 states and under federal and military law. The cruel and unusual punishment language of the Eighth Amendment has largely defined both the substance and procedures in capital cases. In this book, the parameters of death penalty cases are examined, and established principles as well as unresolved issues are analyzed. In the few years since the third edition, significant changes have occurred in death penalty law, procedure, and practice. The fourth edition presents the most up-to-date information and trends in death penalty law. Students, practitioners, judges, activists, and others interested in the complexities of capital punishment law will benefit from the explanations and commentary this book presents.

Introduction to capital punishment law -- The death penalty debate -- Sources of law -- Challenges to the constitutionality of the death penalty -- Methods of execution -- Modern death penalty statutes -- The death penalty trial -- Categorical bars to the death penalty -- Overview of aggravating evidence: the eligibility function and the selection function -- Aggravating circumstances: eligibility of the case for the death penalty -- Aggravating evidence and the selection decision -- Selection process: mitigation -- Selection process : the life or death decision -- Direct appeals -- Postconviction proceedings: the writ of habeas corpus -- Ineffective assistance of counsel -- Innocence -- Clemency -- Death row issues: insanity and death row phenomenon -- Race and the death penalty -- Gender bias and the death penalty -- Volunteers: defendants who want to die -- International treaty rights and the use of foreign law in death penalty cases -- The federal death penalty -- Military death penalty -- The death penalty in a global context -- Evolving attitudes on capital punishment: the move away from the death penalty -- Future issues in capital punishment law.