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Chapter 15. The Death Penalty. the entrance to death row San Quentin, California. women’s death row: Central California Women’s Facility. A Woman in the Spotlight. Scumbags of America. “I’m innocent. I was raped! I hope you get raped! Scumbags of America!”
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Chapter 15 The Death Penalty
Scumbags of America “I’m innocent. I was raped! I hope you get raped! Scumbags of America!” “I’d just like to say I’m sailing with the rock, and I'll be back like Independence Day, with Jesus June 6. Like the movie, big mother ship and all, I’ll be back.” Aileen Wuornos
capital punishment debatethe PRO side • moral arguments • retribution calls for death penalty • Deterrent argument • 200 studies: most--no evidence of deterrence: • Peterson & Bailey: murder rates were higher in states with death penalty than in adjacent states without it • Lempert: confirmed no effect
capital punishment debatethe PRO side • Ehrich: each execution between 1933 & 1969 preven • ted between 7 & 8 murders • National Academy of Sciences reanalyzed data & dismissed findings • economic arguments • death penalty is less expensive than life imprisonment
capital punishment debate the CON side • moral arguments • capital punishment is not moral • state does not have the right to take a life • Deterrent arguments • no convincing evidence that capital punishment deters • many capital crimes cannot be deterred • drug/alcohol-based, psychological disturbance, rage • economic arguments • death penalty more expensive than life sentence
capital punishment debate the CON side extra $216,000 to prosecute; $2.16 million to execute • other arguments • mistakes are unavoidable & irreversible • death sentence imposed in unfair & discriminatory way eg, by race, jurisdiction, even politics (see Houston) eg, 1,000 murders to 1 execution
public opinion: death penalty • nearly 3/4 Americans support death penalty. • majority have supported it since Gallup survey first asked about it in 1936 • only exception was 1960 - 1965 • support generally risen over last 35 years
Public Opinion • important note on survey methodology: • support level depends on how question worded • when offered alternative to capital punishment, many supporters opt for the alternative • life without possibility of parole • >20% shift to “opposition,” when given this option • life, in addition to restitution to the victim
Methods of death penalty US • Lethal Injection • Electrocution • Gas Chamber • Hanging • Firing Squad
Methods of cap punishment around the world • Beheading • Stoning • Guillotine • Quartering • Single shooter execution
Alternatives Life in Prison: A More Suitable Punishment?
Caged Life Vs. No Life While there are many who believe murderers and kidnappers should be executed, there are many who believe life without parole in a maximum security prison is a fate worse than death.
Wrongful Convictions There have been cases where a person was given the death penalty and it was later found through new evidence that the person was not guilty. While some wrongfully convicted prisoners manage to get free on Death Row (Such as Gordon Steidl) there are some who are found innocent far too late
% states with death penalty NO death penalty WITH death penalty
Furman v. Georgia, 1972 • U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty, as administered, constituted cruel and unusual punishment, in violation of the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution • invalidated death penalty laws of 39 states & D.C. • 35 states re-enacted laws • issue returned to Supreme Court...
Gregg v. Georgia, 1976 • U.S. Supreme Court upheld death penalty laws which • required the sentencing judge or jury to take into account specific aggravating and mitigatingcircumstances in deciding which convicted murders should be sentenced to death, and which • authorized a “bifurcated” proceeding (trial to determine guilt and a separate hearing exclusively to determine penalty)
Gilmore v Utah • Gary Gilmore was an American who gained international notoriety for demanding that his own death sentence be fulfilled following two murders he committed in Utah • He became the first person executed in the United States after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a new series of death penalty statutes in the 1976 decision Gregg v. Georgia. • (These new statutes avoided the problems that had led earlier death penalty statutes to be deemed unconstitutional in Furman v. Georgia. • Gilmore was executed by firing squad in 1977.
Legal issues re: capital punishment execution of “insane” counsel execution of juveniles populations & processes appeals execution of mentally disabled
Execution of juveniles and mentally disabled inmates • Executions of criminals who committed their crime as a juvenile ends in 2007 • Execution of someone deemed mental disabled ends in 2002
Appeals • average time sentence--execution: 7- 8 yrs • recent moves to limit that interval • McCleskey v. Zant, 1991, Supreme Court: except in exceptional circumstances, lower federal courts must dismiss prisoner’s second and subsequent habeas corpus petitions.
Appeals • 1993 Supreme Court: offender who presents belated evidence of innocence not necessarily entitled to new hearing in federal court; evidence must be “truly persuasive” • Anti-Terrorism & Effective Death Penalty Act, 1996 • death row inmates must file habeas corpus petition within one year
Counsel • appointed counsel often receive small fees • eg, $1,000 per case; $20/hr (Alab.); $11.75/hr (Miss.) • Stickland v. Washington, 1984, Supreme Crt: • defendant has a right to representation that meets an “objective standard of reasonableness”
Counsel • accused must show “that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different.”
where death penalty imposed % of all death sentences imposed
Blue: No current death penalty statuteOrange: Death penalty statute declared unconstitutionalGreen: No one executed since 1976Red: Has performed execution since 1976
Executions in US Over one-third of executions occur in Texas; Source: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=414&scid=8 Also see: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=186
Death penalty in NJ • No one has been executed by the state of New Jersey since 1963, although a statute reinstating capital punishment for murder had been in force from 1982 until 2007. • Historically, at least 361 people were executed by the state between the execution of a slave named Tom for rape in 1690 and the execution of Ralph Hudson for murder on January 22, 1963 • On December 10, 2007, the New Jersey Senate passed bill to repeal the current death penalty statute, and replaced it with life imprisonment without parole
where executions happen, 1976 - July, 2010 722 executions carried out since 1976
Capital punishment and race • Four possible areas of racial bias: • Race of perpetrator—a diminishing issue • Race of victim—still a significant problem • Race of jurors—a significant issue • Race of prosecutor—98% of prosecutors are white • Most significant in mid-range cases, not most or least aggravated cases. • Raises memories of racial lynchings in early 20th century • Subtle bias in terms of how offenders are charged, how the prosecution proceeds, etc. • See http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/glance/exe.cfm and • http://www.capitalpunishmentincontext.org/issues/race
