Among the issues examined in the research are the use of the death penalty in countries around the world, executions in the United States, views on the severity of the death penalty, life on death row, attitudes toward the death penalty, discrimination in the application of the death penalty, juries and the death penalty, deterrence effectiveness, regional correlates of the death penalty and execution rates, and economic analyses of the deterrent effect of the death penalty. Research indicates that the death penalty is apparently less prevalent and less barbaric in modern times; modern industrialized nations are less likely to have a death penalty than less developed nations. Even in nations that retain the death penalty, there are increasingly fewer crimes that carry the death penalty. Data on those receiving the death penalty show an underrepresentation of females; an overrepresentation of blacks; and a typical offender who is poorly educated, young, and single. These data, however, have no implications until it is known how many murderers are male, black, poorly educated, young, and single. Research on the perceived severity of the death penalty shows that the public rates life imprisonment as close in severity to execution. Studies of those on death row are rare. The only quantitative findings are that murder and suicide rates are high on death row. Studies of juries have found that the knowledge that a guilty verdict may result in a death penalty apparently impacts jury verdicts. Other research indicates that the elimination of jurors with particular attitudes does bias the verdicts. Conclusions from the research on the deterrent impact of the death penalty are equivocal. The emotions associated with the death penalty have influenced not only the research itself, but also the interpretation of the results of the research by investigators. Chapter references, appended analyses of particular studies, and author and subject indexes