The death penalty in America : current controversies / edited by Hugo Adam Bedau.

Includes bibliography: (pages 471-500) and index.

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 volume Georgia, 1972 : the death penalty as administered is unconstitutional ; Gregg volume Georgia, 1976 : the death penalty is not per se unconstitutional ; Woodson volume North Carolina, 1976 : mandatory death penalties are unconstitutional ; Coker volume 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 volume 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.