Numerous people face legal execution in the United States. Their presence in death rows throughout the country refutes a basic premise of our judicial system, for the use of capital punishment denies the existence of universal rehabilitation. There is another paradox-juries continue to sentence men and women to death; yet few ever get executed. Whether one is for or against capital punishment, one cannot approach the issue without deep emotion and conviction. James McCafferty provides an even-tempered, eminently reasonable discussion of the issue with balanced commentary from both sides of the debate.
McCafferty presents not only empirical data and analyses of the nature of capital punishment, but provides perspectives on the larger issues of our approach to lawbreakers and their rehabilitation. The claims of both those who want to retain capital punishment and those who want to abolish it are included. The arguments consider whether capital punishment deters crime as well as the question of discrimination. A wealth of references, an extremely useful bibliography, and a final chapter delineating the legal issues facing the courts at the time the book was originally published in 1972 complete this unusually incisive and balanced study.
Capital Punishment remains an important volume in the field of criminal justice. It seeks to educate rather than propagandize. It is intended for use in numerous courses in sociology and political science as well as in law schools. Anyone wishing to gain a perspective on what remains a controversial issue more than thirty years later would be well advised to study this work by world-class scholars.
Preface vii
Introduction James A. Mccafferty 1
Part I Facts and Figures 5
1 General Introduction Hugo A. Bedau 7
2 The Use of the Death Penalty: A Factual Statement Walter C. Reckless 38
Part II The Issues 63
3 The Capital Punishment Controversy Willeam O. Hochkammer 65
Part III Proponents of Capita! Punishment 85
4 In Favor of Capital Punishment Jacques Barzun 89
5 On Deterrence and the Death Penalty Ernest van Den Haag 102
6 apital Punishment: Your Protection and Mine Edward J. Allen 117
7 Prosecutor Looks at Capital Punishment Rechard E. Gerstein 129
8 The Death Penalty James V. Bennett 140
Part IV Opponents of Capital Punishment 157
9 Capital Punishment as Seen by a Correctional Administrator Richard A. Mcgee 161
10 To Abolish the Death Penalty Ramsey Clark 176
11 Capital Punishment: The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society: President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice 181
12 Thou Shalt Not Kill Judicature 185
13 For Whom the Chair Waits Sara R. Ehrmann 187
14 Let's Abolish Capital Punishment Victor H. Evjen 218
Part V Attack on the Death Penalty 225
15 Varieties of Attack on the Death Penalty Jack Greenberg Jack Himmelstein 231
16 The Supreme Court, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, and the Death Penalty Sol Rubin 245
For Further Reading 262
Index 267
Overview
Numerous people face legal execution in the United States. Their presence in death rows throughout the country refutes a basic premise of our judicial system, for the use of capital punishment denies the existence of universal rehabilitation. There is another paradox-juries continue to sentence men and women to death; yet few ever get executed. Whether one is for or against capital punishment, one cannot approach the issue without deep emotion and conviction. James McCafferty provides an even-tempered, eminently ...