The course considers the controversial contemporary policy issue: capital punishment. We will take an interdisciplinary approach to examining this moral, political and legal question. We will read and discuss fictional portrayals, empirical studies, public policy opinion pieces, and easily digestible legal materials.  Our purpose is not to arrive at a binary conclusion that the death penalty is advisable or ill-advised, but rather to understand competing considerations, to critically examine arguments and data offered by opponents and proponents frame their arguments, but also to rhetorical advocacy embedded in literary and film portrayals of execution scenes. In class we will view excerpts of some of the excellent films and documentaries that deal with various aspects of capital punishment. Because the course assumes no prior exposure to criminal law or to this topic, we begin with an overview of the current requirements for imposition of the death penalty, followed by consideration of bias in administration in the death penalty and proposals for reform.