Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction to capital punishment law -- The death penalty debate -- Sources of law -- Challenges to the constitutionality of the death penalty -- Methods of execution -- Modern death penalty statutes -- The death penalty trial -- Categorical bars to the death penalty -- Overview of aggravating evidence : the eligibility function and the selection function -- Aggravating circumstances : eligibility of the case for the death penalty -- Aggravating evidence and the selection decision -- Selection process : mitigation -- Selection process : the life or death decision -- Direct appeals -- Post conviction proceedings : the writ of habeas corpus -- Ineffective assistance of counsel -- Innocence -- Clemency -- Death row issues : insanity and death row phenomenon -- Race and the death penalty -- Gender bias and the death penalty -- Volunteers : defendants who want to die -- International treaty rights and the use of foreign law in death penalty cases -- The federal death penalty -- Future issues in capital punishment law.