An Exploration of the Death Penalty

The death penalty is a complicated social phenomenon dating back to the earliest human civilizations, and continues to impact society to this day. This book takes a dive into a wide array of factors related to the death penalty including but not limited to the history, ethics, impact, and debate of the death penalty. Discussion on the topic exists on a spectrum between the abolitionists on one side and retentionists on the other, with a great deal of nuance and room for interpretation in between. Debate on the topic ranges from competing ideas about what is ethical and the nature of justice, to different interpretations around the utility and pragmatism of putting people to death. To some it is only fair that the death penalty would be the punishment for certain violent crimes such as murder, others are more concerned with the difficulty of overcoming systemic bias and the unequal impact of any program constructed and maintained by imperfect human beings. The death penalty is a mainstay of both contemporary popular culture as well as the mythology of many societies, and a robust debate on the topic is present in most nations and at the international level as well.