Encyclopedia of Capital Punishment is a carefully researched reference work that provides a nonpartisan overview of capital punishment through the ages, addressing the history of capital punishment from the seventeenth century B.C.E. to the present and covering controversies, particular cases, and attitudes toward the death penalty in many countries.

Included among the more than 240 alphabetically arranged entries are biographies of famous people who have been executed - as well as some famous executioners; biographies of advocates, opponents, and reformers of capital punishment; landmark U.S. court cases; descriptions of various methods of execution throughout history; relevant literary works; eyewitness accounts of executions; statistics; and various historical and contemporary concepts.

Also included in this comprehensive work are a detailed timeline, a master bibliography, and an index. Students, scholars, and library patrons researching the historical and contemporary issues, events, and people tied to capital punishment will turn to this volume again and again.