Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. This course examines the specific legal issues inherent in capital punishment. Included will be detailed coverage of both substantive and procedural law of capital punishment as well as the roles of lawyers, judges, and juries within this legal system. This course also will focus upon empirical analyses of death penalty applications and will carefully explore its practical and philosophical underpinnings.