Introduction : perspectives on the death penalty / J. Michael Martinez, William D. Richardson, and D. Brandon Hornsby
Low deeds and high goods : philosophical foundations of the death penalty in the American regime / J. Michael Martinez, William D. Richardson, and Cheryl A. Brown
Bearing witness and writing history in the struggle against capital punishment / Austin Sarat
Why capital punishment? / Ernest van den Haag
"Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood" : philosophical arguments against the death penalty / J. Michael Martinez.

Religious orientation, race, and support for the death penalty / Robert L. Young
Theological arguments and the case against capital punishment / Mark Douglas
Is capital punishment wrong? / Jacob J. Vellenga
Deliverance from the vicious cycles of murder / Glen H. Stassen
Social science data and the death penalty : understanding the debate over "a broken system" / M. Christine Cagle and J. Michael Martinez
Fatal flaws : the implementation of the death penalty in the states / Elizabeth Theiss Smith
Race and the death penalty / John C. McAdams.

"The executioner's face is always well hidden" : social science arguments against capital punishment / J. Michael Martinez
Massive resistance : capital punishment, the Abolitionist Movement, and the Supreme Court / Douglas Clouatre
"Freakishly imposed" or "fundamentally fair"? Legal arguments against the death penalty / J. Michael Martinez
Legal arguments in favor of the death penalty / J. Michael Martinez
Flaws in capital sentencing : skewing the reasoned moral response / Chris Hutton.

The death penalty and the international community : evolving norms or persistent differneces? / Timothy J. Schorn
Reflections on the future of the death penalty / Robert A. Miller.