Pathfinder: Capital Punishment

Scope|Subject Headings|Overview Sources|Circulating Books|Videos|Web Sites

SCOPE:  There are many opponents to capital punishment. The number of actual executions in the United States is relatively small. Since 2001 the number of executions has continued to decline. Questions about the reliability and fairness of the judicial system have arisen. Some believe that innocent people are being executed. The purpose of this pathfinder is to serve as a guideline for the student in locating library resources on the topic of capital punishment. It is not intended as a comprehensive listing, but as a selective sampling of the types of materials that are available in the library.

SUBJECT HEADINGS

Books dealing with capital punishment are listed in the Baddour Library's online catalog under the following subject headings:

Capital punishment United States

There are sources located in the Reference Section of the Baddour Library that give a general overview or summary of the topic you are researching. The following is a list of some of the sources available in the library.

OVERVIEW SOURCES

CQ Researcher:

• Death Penalty Controversies 9/23/2005
• Rethinking the Death Penalty 11/16/2001
• Death Penalty Update 01/08/1999
• Death Penalty Debate 03/10/1995

Issues and Controversies database from Facts on File

REF BJ63.E45 1992 Encyclopedia of Ethics
REF HN90.V5474 1999 Violence in America

Some representative books from the circulating collection that are located upstairs in the library are:

CIRCULATING BOOKS

Bessler, John D. Kiss of Death: America's Love Affair with the Death Penalty. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2003.

Crump, David. A Capital Case in America: How Today's Justice System Handles Death Penalty Cases from Crime Scene to Ultimate Execution of Sentence. Durham, N.C: Carolina Academic Press, 2000.

Fleury-Steiner, Benjamin. Jurors’ Stories of Death: How America’s Death Penalty Invests in Inequality. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2004.

Gershman, Gary P. Death Penalty on Trial: A Handbook with Case, Laws, and Documents. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2005.

Haines, Herbert H. Against Capital Punishment: The Anti-Death Penalty Movement in America, 1972-1994. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Henderson, Harry. Capital Punishment. New York: Facts on File, 2000.

Henningfeld, Diane Andrews. The Death Penalty: Opposing Viewpoints. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2006.

Sarat, Austin. Mercy on Trial: What It Means to Stop an Execution. Princeton, N.J:
Princeton University Press, 2005.

Stack, Richard A. Dead Wrong: Violence, Vengeance, and the Victims of Capital
Punishment. Westport, Conn: Praeger, 2006.

Tushnet, Mark V. The Death Penalty. New York: Facts on File, 1994.

PERIODICALS, JOURNALS & TRADE PUBLICATIONS

Click the link for a list of full text journals available through our databases in:

• Criminal Law & Procedure-U.S.
• Criminology, Penology, & Juvenile Delinquency

VIDEOS

DVD 33 12 Angry Men

KF9223.F752 1997 Crime & Punishment in America

KF1175.C2D43 2004 Deadline

WEB SITES

Angel on Death Row
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/angel/
Interviews, pro and con stances on this controversial topic.

Death Penalty Information
http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~critcrim/dp/dp.html
Legal resources, fact sheets, and papers on capital punishment.

Capital Punishment Life or Death?
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~tonya/spring/cap/group1.htm

The Death Penalty
http://www.ohiou.edu/esl/project/penalty/index.html

Ethics Updates: Punishment and the Death Penalty
http://ethics.acusd.edu/

Capital Punishment in the United States Resource Guide
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/NACJO/CP

Landmark Study
http://www.Columbia.edu/cu/news/00/06/lawStudy.html

Librarian's Guide to the Best Information on the Internet - Death Penalty
http://library.sau.edu/bestinfo/Hot/death.htm
A great resource with numerous links from the O'Keefe Library at St. Ambrose University.