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Lloyd Sealy Library
John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Criminal Justice

Selected Readings in Capital Punishment

Atwell, M. (2012). Capital punishment. In W. R. Miller (Ed.), The social history of crime and punishment in America: An encylopedia (Vol. 5, pp. 203-210). SAGE Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452218427.n91

Bohm, R. (2009). Capital punishment. In J. M. Miller 21st Century criminology: A reference handbook (pp. 612-619). SAGE Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412971997.n71

Capital Punishment. (2010). In D. Batten (Ed.), Gale encyclopedia of American law (3rd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 246-252). Gale.

Evans, K. M. (2016). A Continuing conflict: A history of capital punishment in the United States. In Capital Punishment (pp. 1-14). Gale. 

Melusky, J. A., & Pesto, K. A. (2011). Historical guides to controversial issues in America: Capital punishment. Greenwood.

Palmer, L. (2008). Encyclopedia of capital punishment in the United States (2nd ed.). McFarland & Company. Reference HV8694.P35 2008

Rosenfeld, R. (2009). Capital punishment. Oxford bibliographies in criminology. Oxford University Press. 

Weier, J. W. (2006). Capital punishment: Cruel and unusual? Information Plus.

Weisberg, R. (2000). Capital punishment. In L. W. Levy & K. L. Karst (Eds.), Encyclopedia of the American constitution (2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 299-304). Macmillan Reference USA.

Weisberg, R. Capital punishment. In D. S. Tanenhaus (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the supreme court of the United States (Vol. 1, pp. 262-269).  Macmillan Reference USA.

Internet Resources

In this section, you will find links to our research guides related to criminal justice.  These research guides have internet links which have been selected by librarians and are considered appropriate for the study of certain topics within criminal justice and ancillary disciplines. When searching the web and finding resources that have not been selected by information professionals, you want to make sure that the information you've found is valid and from a reliable source.

Use our Library guides to help you find reliable sources on the web:

Evaluating Information Sources on the Web

Information Literacy: What is it?

Capital Punishment: Internet Resources

Capital Punishment, Bureau of Justice Statistics

BJS webpage on capital punishment providing data on persons held under sentence of death and those executed from the state department of corrections and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Statistics include the movement of prisoners into and out of death sentence status, offenders' sex, race, education, marital status, age, legal status and method. 

Capital Punishment, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School

Extensive treatment of the legal issues surrounding all aspects of capital punishment.

Capital Punishment, Times Topics, New York Times

New York Times articles on the topic of Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment in the United States: Explained by Jessica Brand and Callie Heller

These authors break down the issue of capital punishment in a clear and exhaustive way.

Death Penalty, Equal Justice Initiative

Equal Justice Initiative's page on the death penalty presenting statistics and information related to inadequate counsel, racial bias, public safety and more.

Death Penalty Information Center

A national non-profit organization meant to serve the media, public and students. The Center publishes in-depth current and annual reports, conducts briefings for journalists and serves as a resource to those working on this issue including arbitrariness, costs, innocence, and race. Their site offers a wide variety of multimedia resources, podcast series, and an extensive student research center

States and Capital Punishment, National Conference of State Legislators

NCSL breakdown on state statistics and method of execution.