AN OVERVIEW OF THE DEATH-PENALTY AND CAPITAL TRIALS - HISTORY, CURRENT STATUS, LEGAL PROCEDURES, AND COST

There are several reasons to expect that the issue of capital punishme nt will continue to demand the attention of the public and the media. To provide necessary background for the articles that follow, we prese nt a brief history of the death penalty in the United States and descr ibe the American system of capital jurisprudence. We also present a de tailed examination of one issue that frequently surfaces in discussion s of capital punishment-the financial cost of the death penalty and it s attendant procedures. Finally, we briefly describe each of the artic les in this JSI issue. These articles examine the death penalty and ca pital trials from the perspective of social science.