Zane Elliot

May 11, 2018

Valerie Bell

Research Methods

Capital Punishment

One of the biggest controversies in our nation’s justice system is our country’s use of

Capital Punishment, or more commonly referred to as the death penalty. It is so controversial

because it involves taking someone’s life. The only way that someone can receive this sentence

is by taking someone else’s life as well, unless you are condemned in Federal Court. There are a

number of requirements of homicide that must be met before the court will even consider

sentencing someone to death. Some people see it as the old saying “an eye for an eye leaves

the whole world blind.” While the other side of the coin thinks that if you take the life of

somebody else then you lose your own right to life. There are sensible arguments for both sides

of this law and there is data to support each of their arguments.

To start, breaking down the qualifications and laws to receive capital punishment is

extensive in itself. Speaking in terms of the Federal Justice system there are only a few ways that

you could be sentenced to death without actually committing a murder. Those are: Large scale

drug trafficking, atempting, authorizing or advising the killing of any officer, juror, or witness in

cases involving a Continuing Criminal Enterprise, even if such killing does not occur, espionage,

or treason. There are more random laws in a couple states that allow the execution of someone
without them being directly involved with a murder. However despite these laws being on the

books, no one since 1976 (when the death penalty was reinstated) has an execution taken place

without someone being involved with a murder. Because of the reformation of the laws, the

research project will only be focusing on cases post 1982 when the first inmate was executed

since the reform. This will give the study a more accurate representation of current capital

punishment laws and correlations between the variables that will be studied. In addition, the

researcher will also be looking at certain unforeseen variables that researchers believe could

affect the outcomes of this study in ways that some people might not realize and that would not

be reflected by the data. Looking at certain variables such as age, race, sex, and state to see that

if these demographics make you more or less likely to be sentenced to death.

Data Set

For the purpose of this study, the researcher was required to find a database that they

could use to show the results of their research questions. This database is unique due to the

fact that you do not have to worry about population samples or lack of reporting. Capital

punishment has been extremely well recorded in every aspect. No demographic goes

unreported. Race, age, sex, state, method of execution, ect. Has all been included in the

government database. Due to this they do not have to worry about error percentages because

of small or bad samples of the population. This database began recording executions in 1608

and goes up until 2017. In 1972 there was a landmark decision of Furman v. Georgia which

made capital punishment illegal. It was then reinstated in 1976 with many more restrictions

than before. The researcher decided to eliminate all cases prior to 1972 because the laws were

much less restrictive and the data wouldn’t reflect accurate correlations of present day issues
with the law. For example from 1900-1972 there were almost 8000 executions. For comparison,

post 1972 there have been 1,472 executions. That gives you an idea of how lenient the courts

were with the death penalty. Even once reinstated in 1976 it was only used 4 times until 1982

where we saw a gradual rise until it peaked in 1999 with 98 executions. Since then it has been

on a gradual decline with the occasional spike every few years. The most recent year, 2017, the

U.S. recorded executing 23 inmates on death row.

Methods Section

The database used contains 22 different variables which were all quantitative except for

name, reason for execution, and method of execution. A few of these variables are irrelevant to

this study because they only reflect things such as case number, study number, edition of the

database, and the ICPSR part number. Other variables which could be used in different types of

studies but are irrelevant to this particular study include name of offender, place of execution,

jurisdiction of execution, method of execution, the day and month of execution, county of

conviction, ICPSR state code, compensation case, and the occupation of the offender. This study

is more interested in the variables that will help it make the correlations that It need to answer

the research questions. The researcher will use age at execution, year executed, and sex of

offender as my independent variables. Then will use race of offender, crime commited, and

state of execution as my dependent variables. The areas the researchers are concerned with

involve the following factors: is there a positive correlation between race and execution, race

and state of execution, sex and execution, and then age and crime commited. The researchers

will also be using outside sources and studies to help explain any extreme outliers that may

come up while conduction data analysis. The researcher will be using the SPSS to help break
down the data points and put them into a more comprehensive way of analyzing the different

points of interest. Being used within the SPSS application the data will be broken down into

descriptive statistics, chi-square test, independent samples t-test, and one-way ANOVA test.

Purpose Section

The purpose of this study is to take into account all quantitative types of data

surrounding capital punishment and break it down into more compact and understandable

results. Just this information alone isn’t enough to completely grasp the concepts and reasons

behind why capital punishment has paterns and correlations. Because of this we will need to

perform a cross sectional study, taking into account other peoples data analysis and opinions to

properly allow the reader to make their own fair unbiased analysis of the data on hand and the

usage of capital punishment.

Theoretical Application

Trying to predict who, when, where, why, and how someone will commit a crime has

been a question criminologists have been asking since our justice system was founded. There

are a lot of biological, mental, and environmental factors that come together to make a criminal.

There are even more so of these factors that can make someone result in a murderer. There

have been countless studies of trial and error that have goten us to where we are today in

terms of crime prevention and recognition. We have a solid foundation of what the perfect

environment for crime is and we can prety accurately predict where these crimes will take

place. Being able to prevent murder, however, is a different story. Without infringing on

someone’s right to privacy and their freedoms, we cannot actively prevent murder until after it
happens, unless we have probable cause to intervene, such as a tip from someone. In the book

titled “Murder is no accident : understanding and preventing youth violence in America” the

authors Deborah Prothrow-Stith and Howard R. Spivak talk about ending the so called cycle of

violence in homes these days that can sometimes mentally harm a child into possibly harming

others as an adult. The book then goes into examples of programs and laws that were put into

place in Boston that helped dramatically reduce violent crime in the city. Understanding where

“breeding grounds” for criminals are is a huge step in the right direction to being accurately able

to prevent crime before it happens. (Stith, Spivak 2004)

Literature Review

To beter understand the study being conducted, 5 articles, studies, or journals were

reviewed and applied to the data analysis. This use of outside sources allows the researchers to

use critical thinking and bring in facts that numbers cannot show. The first was “Literary

executions: capital punishment & American culture, 1820-1925.” This itself is a study of journals

on the thoughts, feelings, methods, and attitudes toward the death penalty even over a

hundred years ago. It analyzes old articles, poems, and stories on how people felt and reacted

to the death penalty before it was modified in the mid-1970s. One can look at this journal and

correlate or differentiate the public’s opinions on this topic. No mater how terrible the past

might have been, it should not be forgoten. Learning and forming your own opinions from it

can make for a much brighter future. One can look at the people’s concerns and see if they were

addressed with the modern version of capital punishment. One can then see how far capital

punishment has come also form their own opinions on how much farther it needs to go, or if it

is a lost cause and should be abolished. (Barton 2014)

 The second peer reviewed article is titled “Race, Class, and the Death Penalty: Capital

Punishment in American History.” This journal goes in-depth on the topic of capital punishment

in terms of eras instead of individual years. Seeing correlations in not only number of executions

but also the race, origin, and socioeconomic status of the person being executed really brings

the law to light. Analyzing this article it broke down eras such as the colonial-revolutionary

period, the civil war period, post WW2 period, and ect. You see can observe spikes in these eras

of not only executions but also the race or origin of the people that had a negative stereotype

around them at the time. Such as during the revolutionary war period we saw a spike in the

execution of people for the crime of treason against the crown. Applying this study we can

break down our current era of the death penalty that we are observing right now. Considering

we are becoming an increasingly liberal society, the feelings on capital punishment tend to have

a negative connotation around them. Which is why we are seeing the number of people

executed become increasingly lower. (Allen, Howard 2008)

The third (Could Quicker Executions Deter Homicides?: The Relationship between

Celerity, Capital Punishment, and Murder) and fourth journals (The Ethics of Capital Punishment)

that was reviewed were both studies very similar to this study, however they each had one

variable that brings an interesting aspect into why a lot of people think the death penalty is

ineffective. One of the variables is if the long wait for inmates on death row actually decreases

deterrence for other criminals. The other breaks down why it is actually more expensive to

execute prisoners than it is to give them life without parole. These two variables are directly

correlated because time=money. The longer an inmate is in holding, the more government

resources that person is taking up (Watkins, Christine, Gale 2011). There are so many appeal
processes and court appearances for the defendant of a case that the legal fees are what really

rack up the money for these men and women on death row. Going back to the third study, they

found that the longer waiting periods on death row does in fact lessen the deterrent factor in

the minds of criminals. Violent crime rates go up in months that there are no executions

performed in that state. So if courts didn’t allow defendants to have so many appeals, they

could cut back on court costs and keep the deterrent factor up. The one downside to these

potential law changes is that there is less time for new evidence to come forward for these

defendants on death row. If evidence comes in after the execution then that is an entire new set

of problems. Since 1973 there have been 162 exonerations from death row due to new

evidence coming forward of their innocence. If there were less appeals, some of those men may

have been put to death.

The fifth and final article that was reviewed for this study was “The Encyclopedia of

Capital Punishment in the United States”. This was not a study conducted on the death penalty,

but more so a history of it. It goes over all of the laws that have been and currently are on the

books in every state. It allows the researcher to witness shifts in number of executions year to

year and state to state. Then correlate that with a possible institution or abolition of a law that

could have an adverse effect on capital punishment. For example, in 2005, the Supreme Court in

Roper v. Simmons overturned the death penalty for juveniles. 22 defendants had been executed

for crimes commited as juveniles since 1976. While you would not be able to detect much of a

difference in statistics with this small law change, it does come out to around 1 person per year

less is executed. With this cross reference, the researcher is much more able to interpret

changes in data and predict what could happen with future law changes.
Limitations

What is great about conducting research on a census database rather than a sample size,

is that you know you don’t have any holes or missing people in your data. Everyone that has

been or is going to be executed is on this database. However it doesn’t come without its

setbacks. Trying to detect deterrence in something as complex as the death penalty is nearly

impossible. Because the population that the death penalty is aimed at is so mentally unstable or

not thinking about the consequences when they commit the crime. Anyone that can perform

premeditated murder has some kind of mental illness and is probably either not aware of the

consequences, or really just doesn’t care. The other population commits the crime out of hate

or passion which is typically an in the moment murder. When the mind is so consumed with

hate in one moment, that perpetrator really doesn’t think about the consequences. So that is 2

different groups of people that make up a majority of the population that could potentially

become a victim of the death penalty, and deterrence really wouldn’t stop them from

committing the crime. In a perfect world if the researcher could gather the data for this survey,

the researcher could interview the inmate on death row and get motives for their crimes and

have them respond honestly about what would have made them not commit the crime.

Implications for Further Research

The topic of capital punishment is one that has been very thoroughly researched and

studied for many years. It is clear in the data and studies of researchers that in its current form

doesn’t work as a deterrent. The next step as a researcher would be to develop new ways to

reinvent capital punishment. Something researchers have suggested is to make the death
penalty more graphic. Bring back firing squads, hangings, electric chair, ect. People generally

don’t fear getting a shot and then peacefully falling asleep. People fear these graphic public

displays which that element of fear could steer some people away from committing a capital

crime. If lawmakers aren’t going to continue to try to find new ways to make the death penalty

cheaper or a more effective deterrent, then the only other option is to abolish it. Even if you

don’t think the death penalty is morally wrong, you have to agree that it doesn’t make financial

sense to continue to spend tax dollars on something that is ineffective at doing the only thing it

is supposed to do, deter future criminals.

Conclusions

As provided in the 5 article briefs above, trying to predict who is going to commit a

capital crime next is very hard to predict. There is no solid mold of a murderer that you can keep

your eyes on. They are a product of a combination of mental and environmental factors. They

could act normal for years until something just right happens and they snap which can’t be

deterred. Which brings us to what is the best route for the system to put them through so that

they pay their debt to society? Should they be put to death so that they don’t pose any kind of

threat what so ever? Or should they be put in prison for life with maybe having them repay the

community with some kind of restitution? With the information provided, one is easily able to

make their own judgments about what should be done with these men and women.

Moving on to the research of the death penalty database, the research clearly shows

that there are very strong correlations across most of the tested variables. To start, the data

proves that in states and regions that have the death penalty, the homicide rate is higher than
those states without it. The south as a region accounts for 80% of all executions and has the

highest murder rate per 100,000 citizens (6.5). While the northeast accounts for 1% of all

executions and maintains the lowest murder rate per 100,000 citizens (3.5). There was also a

very strong correlation between race and execution. A black offender has a much higher chance

of being put on death row than does someone who is white. Due to statistics provided by my

database at the ICPSR there are currently 41 black men on death row and 42 white men. When

taking population size difference into consideration that is a huge difference. It was also shown

that since 1972 there have been 20 white men put on death row for killing a black man. Then it

shows that 288 black men were put on death row for killing a white man. So there are clearly

some unfair bias surrounding our criminal justice system as a whole. Fixing that problem should

be priority number 1 before any action takes place on reforming the death penalty. There was

also a strong correlation between the being a man and being executed. Since 1972 there have

been only 9 women that have been executed and almost 800 men. This is a stat that does not

hold very much value behind it due to the fact that men are far more likely and do commit more

violent crime than does women.

Course Connection

In order to research a topic as in depth and thoroughly as this class requires, you need to

have a passion for that field. Criminal Justice has always been something that I have wanted to

do. There is such a wide array of fields that you can be a part of that you can make an impact

almost anywhere. Making communities and homes safe is why I am so passionate about this

project. Especially when talking about murder, you really do not have to worry about criminal

rehabilitation because the chances of that person getting out of prison is almost zero. So with
this topic you have to focus on either deterrence or preventative mental health areas. Being

able to protect families from danger is what I feel gives me purpose. A research project like this

is crucial for my field because I will need to know how to analyze statistics and think critically on

the job. This project is something that has left an imprint on me and I cant wait to get out in the

field and use all of the skills that I have learned.

Data

Descriptive Statistics

Sex of Offender Method of Execution Race of Offender Age of Offenders

774 Males Hanging-3 White-437 Maximum-66
9 Females Electrocution-141 Black-268 Minimum-22
Gas-10 Native American-9 Average-39.62
Firing Squad-1 Asain-Pacific-5
Lethal Injection-619 Hispanic-54
Other-1

Here is the table that was run for the descriptive statistics of the database. As you can see here

the frequencies of the variables of sex, method of execution, and race of offender. As described

earlier you are much more likely to be executed if you are a male, however this isn’t significant

due to the fact that males commit much higher levels of violent crime. Since 1976 there have

been only 5 different forms of execution. People on death row are much more likely to receive a

lethal injection than any other form. However, again this is not significant due to the fact that

there are laws in place that make everything besides lethal injection illegal due to them being

considered inhumane. We then get to race where the most prevalent race executed is white

with 437. This is not significant because when you take into account population differences, it
shifts to become you are much more likely to be executed if you are black or a minority. Then

we get to the age of offenders where we calculated the mean. The maximum age of someone

that was executed was 66 while the minimum age someone was executed was 22. The average

age of someone that was sentenced and put to death was 39.62 years of age.

Chi-Squared Test

Age at Execution
Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
a
22-30 Pearson Chi-Square 1.310 4 .860
N of Valid Cases 108
31-40 Pearson Chi-Square 1.804b 5 .876
N of Valid Cases 330
41-50 Pearson Chi-Square .473c 4 .976
N of Valid Cases 215
51-60 Pearson Chi-Square 1.080d 3 .782
N of Valid Cases 74
61-66 Pearson Chi-Square .356e 1 .551
N of Valid Cases 16

With the Chi-Squared test the goal was to look and see if there was an type of significance

between age and being executed. Before the test could be run the age variables had to be

categorized. For the purpose of this study, the ages of people executed were separated into the

ages seen on the left side of the table. Then you can look move right to look at the Pearson Chi-

Square value. Below that number is the number of people within that age group. To the right of

that, the degrees of freedom column. Then to the significance column to the right of that. When

the test was ran we can look at the significance value and determine that in any of these

categories there is no significance between the comparison of age and execution. The higher
 t-test for Equality of Means

95% Confidence Interval of the

Sex of Offender
Difference
Mean Std. Error
t df Sig. (2-tailed) Difference Difference Lower Upper

AGE AT Equal variances -2.293 741 .022 -.712 .310 -1.321 -.102
EXECUTION assumed

Equal variances not -1.677 8.104 .132 -.712 .424 -1.689 .265
assumed

ICPSR STATE Equal variances -.339 770 .735 -1.119 3.300 -7.596 5.359
CODE assumed

Equal variances not -.705 8.880 .499 -1.119 1.586 -4.715 2.477
assumed

the significance the less correlation we find.

One-Way ANOVA T-Test

For the Independent samples T-Test, the research would be beter understood with 2

independent variables (Age at Execution and State of Execution) compared with the dependent

variable of Sex of the Offender. With the table above you can see that in comparison with Age at

Execution and the Sex of the Offender there was a very high significance of correlation between

the two. Meaning that there is sufficient evidence to assume that if you are a man or woman,

there are certain ages that they typically will be executed in. This case the average age is in

between 31-40. Now observing the state of execution row we can look at the same column and

infer that due to the high number that there is litle to no significance between the Sex of

Offender and State of Execution.

 References

Barton, John Cyril. Literary Executions: Capital Punishment & American Culture, 1820-1925. Johns
Hopkins University Press, 2014.
Allen, Howard W, et al. Race, Class, and the Death Penalty: Capital Punishment in American History. State
University of New York Press, 2008.
Wright, Valerie L. Could Quicker Executions Deter Homicides? : The Relationship between Celerity, Capital
Punishment, and Murder. LFB Scholarly Pub. LLC, 2011
Watkins, Christine, and Thomson Gale (Firm). The Ethics of Capital Punishment. Greenhaven Press, 2011
Palmer, Louis J. Encyclopedia of Capital Punishment in the United States. 2nd ed. ed., McFarland, 2008.
Death Penalty Information Center