Dialogues on the Ethics of Capital Punishment

Books discussing the death penalty now flood the bookstalls. Most, of course, are devoted to criticizing it; few come to its defense. With one or two exceptions virtually none attempts to explore both sides. Dale Jacquette's contribution is all the more admirable for doing just that-and doing it carefully, fairly, and boldly. -- Hugo Adam Bedau, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Tufts University
A promising new series that offers noteable contemporary philosophers the opportunity to write books in a neglected format that has proven historically to be remarkably fruitful. -- Steven M. Cahn
Dialogues on the Ethics of Capital Punishment is a provocative and compelling revival of that oldest tradition in Western philosophy—the dialogue. Dale Jacquette's dialogue performs a lively and rigorous debate on the death penalty; the form itself allowing tension and counter-tension to develop a nuanced analysis of torture, punishment, justice, war, rule of law and violence. This philosophical tete-a-tete cleverly illustrates how to construct and defend an impregnable philosophical position, and powerfully asserts the centrality of philosophy to contemporary issues in public policy. -- Vittorio Bufacchi, author of Violence and Social Justice