A new book by Andrew Hammel offers insights into the dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives on the death penal­ty in America and Europe. ​“Ending the Death Penalty: The European Experience in Global Perspective” exam­ines three coun­tries that do not have the death penal­ty (Germany, France and the United Kingdom), and ana­lyzes how cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment was end­ed in those coun­tries. Hammel ulti­mate­ly believes that the gov­ern­men­tal struc­ture, cul­ture, and polit­i­cal tra­di­tions in the U.S. make the European mod­el of abo­li­tion unlikey to suc­ceed here, though he also states that ​“impor­tant piece­meal vic­to­ries” in lim­it­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment are like­ly to con­tin­ue in the U.S. Andrew Hammel is Assistant Professor for American Law at the University of Dusseldorf, Germany. He has worked as a lawyer with the Texas Defender Service, where he rep­re­sent­ed death row inmates in U.S. state and federal courts.

(A. Hammel, ​“Ending the Death Penalty: The European Experience in Global Perspective,” Palgrave Macmillan, July 2010). See International and Books on the death penalty.

Citation Guide