Contents: Introduction; Part I Abolition: Capital punishment: a review and critique of abolition strategies, Peter Hodgkinson, Seema Kandelia and Lina Gyllensten; Executions, deterrence, and homicide: a tale of two cities, Franklin E. Zimring, Jeffrey Fagan and David T. Johnson; 'I hope someone murders your mother!': an exploration of extreme support for the death penalty, Margaret Vandiver, David J. Giacopassi and Peter R. Gathje; Global support for the death penalty, James Unnever; '.hanged by the neck until you are dead', B.v.D.
van Niekirk; Do executions lower homicide rates?: the views of leading criminologists, Michael L. Radelet and Traci L. Lacock. Part II Abolition Strategies: A proposed strategy for ending the death penalty, W. Graham Allen; Beyond expression: Amnesty International's decision to oppose capital punishment, Andrew S. Thompson; Death penalty as democratization: is the Council of Europe hanging itself?, Rick Fawn; Transnational advocacy against capital punishment: a role for the Holy See, Lisa L. Ferrari; The EU campaign against the death penalty, John R. Schmidt; Cutting the hangman's noose: African initiatives to abolish the death penalty, Tim Curry; The origins and purpose of the International Commission against the death penalty, Federico Mayor.
Part III Alternative Sentences to Capital Punishment: A matter of life and death: the effect of life-without-parole statutes on capital punishment, Harvard Law Review; The pros and cons of life without parole, Catherine Appleton and Bent Grøver; The consequences of the abolition of the mandatory death penalty in Uganda, Jamil Ddamulira Mujuzi; Outlawing irreducible life sentences: Europe on the brink?, Dirk Van Zyl Smit. Part IV Moratoria: Capital punishment, the moratorium movement and empirical questions, Charles S. Lanier and James R. Acker; Name index.