Abstract
Capital punishment is not equally distributed throughout the United States population. When committing comparable crimes, those who are the most at risk of receiving a death sentence are people of color (particularly African Americans), earn lower incomes, and are male. In addition to being tied to geographic location, the sanction is often tied to the quality of defense counsel. Although capital punishment is the ultimate penalty, it is also infrequently applied, so it is the punishment that most know little about. Students’ early exposure to capital punishment is often through the lens of the media. Here, I discuss pedagogical strategies and techniques to engage students on various perspectives and issues within the capital punishment system.