CHAPTER I A Continuing Conflict--A History of Capital Punishment in America The Colonial Period ... The First Abolitionist of the Death Penalty ... The Abolitionist Movement ... A Decline in Abolitionist Fortunes ... Resolving the Constitutional Issues ... Worldwide Trend

CHAPTER II Cruel and Unusual--Important High Court Rulings "As the Statutes Are Administered" ... Proper Imposition of the Death Penalty ... Can Future Criminal Activity Be Predicted? ... Flexible Guidelines for Judges and Jurors ... Exclusion from Juries of Those Against Capital Punishment ... It Does Not Matter If "Death Qualified" Juries Are More Likely to Convict ... Choosing a Lesser Charge ... The Buck Stops with the Jury ... Jury Considerations ... Judge Sentencing Instead of Jury

CHAPTER III Legal Decisions--Circumstances, Right to Counsel, Evidence, and Victim Impact Statements Rape and Kidnapping Do Not Warrant Death ... Mitigating Circumstances ... Not Being at the Scene of the Murder ... An "Outrageously or Wantonly Vile" Murder ... Comparitive Propotionality Review ... When Does the Right to Counsel End? ... Federal Judges Can Delay Executions to Allow Habeas Reviews ... Harmless Error ... Due Process and Notification of the Death Penalty ... Evidence and Appeals ... Victim Impact Statements

CHAPTER IV Legal Decisions--Youth, Mental Capacity, Race, and Methods of Execution Can a Minor Be Sentenced to Death? ... Role of Psychiatrists ... Can a Mentally Retarded Person Be Executed? ... Competency Standard ... Race as a Consideration ... Methods of Execution

CHAPTER V Death Penalty Statutes and Methods Capital Offenses ... Recent Statutory Changes ... Minimum Age for Execution ... Executing Mentally Retarded Persons ... Federal Death Penalty Laws ... Death Penalty Methods ... Public and Private Executions

CHAPTER VI Historical Statistics How Many Executions? ... Where Are the Executions? ... Gender, Race, Ethnicity ... Crimes Committed ... Methods of Execution

CHAPTER VII Under Sentence of Death An Ever-Increasing Number ... Geographic Distribution ... Sex and Race ... Characteristics of Prisoners ... Criminal History of Death Row Inmates ... A Long Wait ... Getting OffDeath Row ... Automatic Review ... Jamming the Court Dockets ... Executing the Innocent ... The Cost of and Execution ... Fairness and Death Penalty

CHAPTER VIII Public Attitudes Towards Capital Punishment Support Increasing ... Death Penalty Favored Even If Some Are Innocent ... Unfairly Applied ... Affording a Lawyer ... Life Without Parole ... Deterrent or Not? ... Death Penalty for Juveniles ... Most Human Form of Execution

CHAPTER IX Capital Punishment Around the World Retentionist Countries ... De Facto Abolitionists ... Abolitionist Nations ...Japan

CHAPTER X The Debate--Capital Punishment Should Be Maintained

CHAPTER XI The Debate--Capital Punishment Should Be Abolished

IMPORTANT ANMES AND ADDRESSES

RESOURCES

INDEX