Perspectives on Capital Punishment in America is a collection of short scholarly pieces on the death penalty system. The essays stem from the late Justice Thurgood Marshall’s belief that “death is different” and thus must be treated specially within the judicial system. The book examines issues such as wrongful convictions in capital cases, death qualification of jurors, the cost of the death penalty, felony murder rules, and the death penalty’s place in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. In his preface, editor Charles E. MacLean, writes, “[T]his volume offers a deeper look into many of the most troubling and complicated facets of capital punishment. The arguments herein…confront many of the death penalty tripwire topics, issues that must be addressed whether the various states retain or abolish capital punishment in the United States.”
