The work provides articles and empirical studies developed by proponents and opponents of capital punishment. Extensive data are included in most selections. Major subject categories include the laws, the crimes, and executions; attitudes toward the death penalty; deterrence; the relationship between the criminal justice system and the capital offender; the cruel and unusual punishment aspect of the death penalty; and arguments made for and against the death penalty. The practice of capital punishment has undergone major developments during the past century. The variety of capital punishment statutes has decreased. In addition, the jury has been given greater discretion with regard to imposition of the death penalty. Public executions ended in the United States in 1937, and methods of execution have been humanized. In some jurisdictions, the role of the appellate courts has been expanded to provide for automatic review of all cases in which the death penalty is imposed. With the de facto moratorium on executions now at an end and hundreds under death sentence in many States, there are grounds for speculation whether the historic downward trend in executions which began approximately 60 years ago will reverse itself in the remaining years of this century. For this reason, arguments for and against the death penalty are becoming increasingly important to the criminal justice system. A table of cases, an index, and approximately 360 references are provided. For a discussion of the death penalty and prison murder, see NCJ 88014.