FB: Professor of Political Science, University of North Carolina; author of many books for Princeton UP and the U of Chicago Press MW: Student, UNC KJ: Student, UNC AK: Student, UNC CW: Student, UNC
Baumgartner et al. question whether the death penalty as it is practiced today meets the standards for constitutional legitimacy imposed in Furman. Baumgartner et al. address every empirical issue relevant to that question, ranging from the process by which capital punishment is meted out in jurisdictions, to which crimes in which jurisdictions merit the death penalty, to how often persons are exonerated from death row. They also provide extensive statistical evidence of differences in execution rates according to race and gender, and consider the evidence of whether the death penalty deters crime. This excellent volume is essential reading for anyone interested in the constitutionality of the death penalty. -- CHOICE