Author Description

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.