Customer Reviews

The Death Penalty: A Worldwide Perspective

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Professor Hood's _The Death Penalty: A Worldwide Perspective_, 3rd Ed. is the most comprehensive review of the death penalty around the world that I have ever found. Professor Hood was a consultant to the United Nations' study of capital punishment and the observance of safeguards for those facing the death penalty (conducted every 5 years).

This book draws not only on material from that survey but on a vast array of other available academic materials but is presented in a very accessible way and is presented objectively. There is very little presented in terms of statistical analysis as the survey is much more of a work to understand what the standards are in each country that retains the death penalty and how they stand in regards to the international safeguards and standards (such as those set by the UN Economic and Social Council).

Professor Hood is critical of countries that refuse to provide any figures on their practices of the death penalty or cooperate with the UN survey, but is able to draw on other sources to provide some idea of what is going on in those countries.

This book is an essential part of any library for those interested in Human Rights or especially in the death penalty. It does not hide behind rhetoric and gives the most objective and comprehensive material available in a single volume. It is footnoted and has 263 pages excluding the index but including 3 appendices (245 without appendices).