This volume provides up-to-date and nuanced analysis across a wide spectrum of capital punishment issues. The essays move beyond the conventional legal approach and propose fresh perspectives, including a unique critique of the abolition sector. Written by a range of leading experts with diverse geographical, methodological and conceptual approaches, the essays in this volume challenge received wisdom and embrace a holistic understanding of capital punishment based on practical experience and empirical data. This collection is indispensable reading for anyone seeking a comprehensive and detailed understanding of the complexity of the death penalty discourse.

This volume provides analyses of a range of subjects and issues in the death penalty debate, from medicine to the media. The essays address in particular the personal complexities of those involved, a fundamental part of the subject usually overridden by the theoretical and legal aspects of the debate. The unique personal vantage offered by this volume makes it essential reading for anyone interested in going beyond the removed theoretical understanding of the death penalty, to better comprehending its fundamental humanity. Additionally, the international range of the analysis, enabling disaggregation of country specific motivations, ensures the complexities of the death penalty are also considered from a global perspective.

The essays selected for this volume develop conventional abolition discourse and explore the conceptual framework through which abolition is understood and posited. Of particular interest is the attention given to an integral but often forgotten element of the abolition debate: alternatives to capital punishment. The volume also provides an account of strategies employed by the abolition community which challenges tired methodologies and offers a level of transparency previously unseen. This collection tackles complex but fundamental components of the capital punishment debate using empirical data and expert observations and is essential reading for those wishing to comprehend the fundamental issues which underpin capital punishment discourse.

This book details how capital punishment violates universal human rights and traces the evolution of the world's understanding of torture.