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"Preface" [2019] ELECD 2527; in Steiker, S. Carol; Steiker, M. Jordan (eds), "Comparative Capital Punishment" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) xiii

Book Title: Comparative Capital Punishment

Editor(s): Steiker, S. Carol; Steiker, M. Jordan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section Title: Preface

Number of pages: 2

Extract:

Preface


This volume explores the many commonalities (and some significant differences) in the
worldwide movement away from capital punishment that began in the late eighteenth century
and sharply accelerated during the last half-century. Now the industrialized West is an almost
completely abolitionist zone--with the notable exception of the United States--and the death
penalty is waning in many other regions of the globe, though it is also seeing a resurgence in
some parts of the Middle East and Africa.
Death penalty scholars and lawyers tend to work in silos around certain countries or regions,
and books with a worldwide scope are rare. This volume in the Comparative Law series does
not aspire to offer a comprehensive compendium of death penalty practices by region or over
time. Rather, it provides a set of in-depth, critical, comparative essays that focus on the `why'
rather than the `what' of things and attempt to project more into the future. There are many
common themes even in apparently disparate parts of the world, such as the kinds of restric-
tions and reforms that usually precede abolition, the moral, political and legal strategies of
reformers and abolitionists, the forces that promote retention and the distinctive possibilities
and pitfalls of various pathways to change. The contributors to this volume are drawn from
around the globe, and they include both scholars and practicing lawyers whose expertise
centers on capital punishment.
The death penalty is a compelling topic in its own right, but its study also ...