"The primary purpose of this encyclopedia is to provide a comprehensive A to Z source of information on the legal, social and political history and present status of capital punishment in the nation" quoted from the preface on page 1 of the book. You will also find useful court cases, dates, graphs, and pictures on the death penalty in this book.

This book is good for law students or criminal justice professionals who are studing the death penalty. This book does not explain why the death penalty is not moral, wise, or effective. It is not to tell why such a horrible thing is justice either. It's simply to explain what the death penalty is and how it works. The author does this by laying out the whole process from the history and evolution to the clemency and execution.