Using hard evidence from trial arguments, case histories and published studies, the book places capital punishment in its historical and moral context before systematically stripping away every major argument in favor of the death penalty. It exposes the extravagant costs, illusory benefits and disturbing consequences of capital punishment and builds an important new model for understanding the politics behind its practice. The book is divided into nine chapters: (1) A Long Bloody Past; (2) From Trial to Execution Chamber; (3) Is the Death Penalty Inhumane? (4) Is the Death Penalty Cheaper Than Life Imprisonment? (5) Is the Death Penalty Fairly Applied? (6) Does the Death Penalty Deter Potential Murderers? (7) Does the Public Support the Death Penalty? (8) Is Killing Murderers Morally Justified? and (9) The Politics and Future of Killing: Symbolism and Realism. The book concludes that capital punishment is a failed social policy. It squanders taxpayer money and court time, is routinely discriminatory, increases violent crime, and poisons public discourse. No legal system is capable of deciding in an infallible, evenhanded way who should live and who should die. Notes, references, index