This book explores the pros and cons of the death penalty and the history of capital punishment. In this context, it puts a special emphasis on the situation in Hungary, where, amongst its neighbors, in recent years the demand for the reestablishment of the death penalty has received the strongest political support from many pro-government politicians. Toth presents tendencies toward abolition of the death penalty and to analyze the arguments by which the death penalty can, in principle, be criticized or even defended. The book presents the main issues of the death penalty, arguments of both abolitionists and retentionists, and reviews the modern history of this sanction. The monograph does not seek to convince the reader of the correctness or wrongness of the death penalty, but is specifically intended to present the arguments and counter-arguments objectively, without bias, reviewing the standpoints of both sides authentically, leaving the reader the right to choose and allowing discussion and argumentation to be informed.

Zoltan J. Toth is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at Karoli Gaspar University of the Hungarian Reformed Church, Budapest, Hungary.