ABSTRACT
The death penalty is a highly controversial issue. The aim of this book has been to assess the determinants of capital punishment without taking a stand for or against the death penalty. The study has been conducted at several levels of analysis. The primary focus was on a global comparison, where all the countries of the world were included. In addition, separate analyses were carried out within democracies and non-democracies. Furthermore, variable interactions were measured in four regional settings. Finally, I used the states of the United States of America as units of analysis. Overall, the findings of the different analyses were quite consistent. Table 5.1 summarizes the results obtained in the different analyses.
