Hugo Bedau has commanded a long and distinguished career as one of the most widely respected opponents of capital punishment. His work has addressed a variety of perspectives in the death penalty debate, from execution of the innocent to the philosophical and moral grounds for abolition. Now his essays from the last fifteen years appear together in one volume. More than simply a collection of previously published articles, Killing as Punishment represents a unified, interdisciplinary inquiry into several of the major empirical and normative issues raised by the death penalty. The essays have been revised and updated to survey the current state of the death penalty against the background of the past half-century, and are divided along two major axes: one detailing a range of facts raised by the controversy over capital punishment, the other presenting a critical evaluation of the subject from a constitutional and ethical point of view.
Drawing on his encyclopedic knowledge of the field, Bedau addresses topics that include strong public support for the death penalty, wrongful convictions in capital cases, the disappearance of executive clemency, constitutional arguments surrounding the Eight Amendment, and procedural reforms presently under consideration that move toward abolition. Throughout the book, Bedau's compelling reasoning and skillful writing combine to create a work of passionate conviction - and he does not flinch from bold stances, proposing, the elimination of the death penalty even for multiple and recidivist murderers. Though progress in abolishing capital punishment remains slow, Bedau's latest writings provide several benchmarks along the road traveled so far. This forthright exercise in applied ethics from a pre-eminent scholar will inspire sociologists, criminologists, legal professionals, historians, and philosophers to contemplate the value of state-sanctioned killing. Deeply informative, Bedau's thoughtful reflections on a controversial subject offer a sophisticated look at the death penalty and a new rationale to resist the attractions of killing as a punishment in our society.