The authors of this Fifth Edition have kept the organization and structure of previous editions of the casebook while comprehensively updating its text. This edition includes two new principal cases decided since the publication of the Fourth Edition, as well as updates throughout the entire book to keep the material current in this evolving field of law and policy. Particularly in the area of federal habeas corpus, new material has been added to reflect significant shifts in the Supreme Court's capital punishment jurisprudence. As a result, this casebook is a comprehensive and up-to-date treatment of the constitutional regulation of capital punishment in America. Part I contains background information about the death penalty and the Court's seminal cases. Part II addresses constitutional challenges to various aspects of death penalty schemes. Part III considers the litigation of a capital case by examining the Court's constitutional decisions regarding the process as a whole and the penalty phase, in particular. Part IV covers issues arising after the death judgment, specifically, those arising on federal habeas corpus review of the death judgment and those concerning the execution itself.

Part V reconsiders the death penalty in light of international norms and from the perspectives of victims' families, prison officials who administer the death penalty, and reformers.