The fifth edition of this renowned work charts the progress towards the goal of worldwide abolition of the death penalty internationally. The authors make a powerful case for abolition, regarding capital punishment as cruel, inhuman, and degrading.

Introduction ; 1. The Abolitionist Movement: Progress and Prospects ; 2. In the Vanguard of Abolition ; 3. Where Capital Punishment Remains Contested ; 4. The Scope of Capital Punishment in Law ; 5. The Death Penalty in Reality: The Process of Execution and the Death Row Experience ; 6. Excluding the Vulnerable from Capital Punishment ; 7. Protecting the Accused and Ensuring Due Process ; 8. Deciding Who Should Die: Problems of Inequity, Arbitrariness, and Racial Discrimination ; 9. The Question of Deterrence ; 10. A Question of Opinion or a Question of Principle? ; 11. The Challenge of a Suitable Replacement ; Appendices ; Bibliography ; Cases Cited ; Index

`Review from previous edition The skill with which this material is brought together and evaluated from all over the world makes this book a documentary masterpiece...it is also an important contribution to the general theory of deterrence.' Professor Heike Jung, Zeitschrift für Strafvollzug und Straffälligenhilfe `Its rigorous scholarship and the breadth of its coverage are hugely impressive features; its claim to "worldwide" coverage is no idle boast. This can fairly lay claim to being the closest thing to a definitive source-book on this important subject.' Paul Craig, Public Law `This current edition of the series is an indispensable resource for serious students of the death penalty anywhere. It is also well written and happily devoid of academic pretension. We are long past the era when anyone could argue that trends in other nations are of no importance to domestic death penalty policy, and this is as true in the United States as in the PRC and Rwanda...What Hood and Hoyle provide their readers is a careful sifting of data together with a level of analysis beyond the capacity of resources like Amnesty International.' Punishment & Society 11 (2), 2009 `The prose is polished and eminently readable. The scholarship is what one expects from two top Oxford academics. The book is much more than an update of the third edition. It contains new chapters and develops subjects that were not treated in any detail by Professor Hood in the past. Its message is inspiring and its arguments are devastating. The fourth edition of The Death Penalty, A Worldwide Perspective book belongs in the library of all the readers of this journal.' William A. Schabas, Human Rights Quarterly 2009 `It is important to acknowledge that the book is not simply a scholarly masterpiece in the purely academic sense...this work constitutes a major contribution to the real world of punishing the most serious offenders...It is both masterly and magisterial and, especially for those who have a genuine interest in the subject, indispensible.' Prof Barry Mitchell, Justice of the Peace Vol 172 `This fourth edition in 2008, takes the work to greater heights of being the last word on a worldwide perspective on the death penalty. No book on the subject gives such up-to-date authentic information on this grim subject.' The Commonwealth Lawyer. `...provide(s) a wealth of information, analysis and strategic advice on abolition from an international and comparative perspective...It constitutes an exhaustive and devastating critique of the way in which capital punishment functions currently' Roger S Clark, Criminal Law Forum

A completely up-to-date and substantially revised new edition, widely regarded as the leading authority on the death penalty in its international context Presents the latest information on developments relating to the death penalty from all over the world, including new publications, empirical research, debates, international law developments, official reports, and news reports Arranged thematically, with country or region-specific sections permitting easy navigation Quick-reference appendices allow the reader to easily see what stage of retention or abolition each country is at and the international covenants they have signed or ratified

Professor Roger Hood is Professor Emeritus of Criminology at the University of Oxford and Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College. He took his Ph.D. at the Law Faculty of the University of Cambridge at the Institute of Criminology, and is a Doctor of Civil Law at the University of Oxford. From 1973 to 2003 he was Director of the Oxford Centre for Criminology. In 1986 he received the Sellin-Glueck Award of the American Society of Criminology for 'Distinguished International Contributions to Criminology'; in 2011 the Cesare Beccaria Medal from the International Society of Social Defence and Humane Criminal Policy; and in 2012 the ESC European Criminology Award 'for a lifetime contribution as a European criminologist'. As consultant to the United Nations, he prepared the Secretary-General's 5th, 6th, and 7th Quinquennial reports on capital punishment. Professor Carolyn Hoyle, Director of the Centre for Criminology, has been at the University of Oxford Centre for Criminology since 1991. She has published empirical and theoretical research on a number of criminological topics including domestic violence, policing, restorative justice, the death penalty, and miscarriages of justice. With Dr Mai Sato, she is currently conducting research into applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission concerning alleged miscarriages of justice in the UK.

A completely up-to-date and substantially revised new edition, widely regarded as the leading authority on the death penalty in its international context Presents the latest information on developments relating to the death penalty from all over the world, including new publications, empirical research, debates, international law developments, official reports, and news reports Arranged thematically, with country or region-specific sections permitting easy navigation Quick-reference appendices allow the reader to easily see what stage of retention or abolition each country is at and the international covenants they have signed or ratified