Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Early History
European (especially English) settlers influenced our nations use of the death penalty First recorded execution: Captain George Kendall Jamestown, Virginia, 1608 First woman executed: Jane Champion, 1632 Crimes punishable by death: stealing grapes, striking your Mother or Father
Colonial Times
Cesare Beccaria's 1767 essay: On Crimes and Punishment Thomas Jeffersons proposed bill Dr. Benjamin Rush, founder of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, challenged the use of the death penalty
brutalization effect: having a death penalty actually increased criminal conduct
1794: Pennsylvania abolishes the death penalty for all offenses except first degree murder
19th Century
1846: Michigan abolishes death penalty for all crimes except treason Most states retained death penalty rights Some states expanded crimes punishable by death (especially crimes committed by slaves) Introduction of discretionary death penalty statues 1888: New York builds the first electric chair
Constitutionality
Prior to the 1960s: Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments were interpreted as allowing the death penalty Early 1960s: suggested that the death penalty was "cruel and unusual" punishment
Other Laws
1994 - President Clinton signs the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act expanding the federal death penalty 1998: Northwestern University National Conference on Wrongful Convictions and the Death Penalty
59 prisoners were executed in the USA in 2004, bringing the year end total to 944 executed since the use of the death penalty was resumed in 1977. Over 3,400 prisoners were under sentence of death as of January 1, 2005. 38 of the 50 US states provide for the death penalty in law. The death penalty is also provided under US federal military and civilian law.
Texas 414
Virginia 23
Florida 388
Delaware 19
California
648
Can a Yes defendant get death for a felony in which s/he was not responsible for the murder? Number of Innocent Persons Freed From Death Row Method
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
21
Injection
The song Hurricane by Bob Dylan made a huge difference in the life of Rubin Hurricane Carter. Carter was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 3 white people who were gunned down at a bar in Paterson, New Jersey on June 16, 1967. Police were looking for 2 black men and pulled over Carter and his friend John Artis. They were sentenced to life in prison.
An innocent man?
8 years into his incarceration, Carter sent Dylan a copy of his autobiography. Dylan visited him in prison, and convinced of his innocence, wrote "Hurricane." Dylan went to Carter's prison in 1975 as a show of support. The visit brought a lot of attention to Carter's case.
Dylan's efforts brought new publicity to Carter's case, getting him a new trial in 1976, where he was again convicted, with prosecutors claiming he killed the men in retaliation for a murder of a black man earlier that night. Carter was not freed until 1984, when his conviction was finally overturned.
Gallup Polls Are you in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder?
Public Support
Except for a period during the 1950s and 1960s, a majority of Americans have supported capital punishment. Recent support has been high. A 1988 Gallop Poll reported that 79% of Americans supported the death penalty, and that percentage rose to 80% in 1994.
For
2005 May 2-5 2004 May 2-4 2003 Oct 6-8 2003 May 19-21 2003 May 5-7 2002 October 10 2002 May 6-9 2001 Oct 11-14 2001 May 10-14 74% 71% 64% 70% 74% 70% 72% 68% 65%
Against
23% 26% 32% 28% 24% 25% 25% 26% 27%
No Opinion
03% 03% 04% 02% 02% 05% 03% 06% 08%
Philosophical View
Utilitarianism-the right action is the one that produces the greatest good. The most common defense of capital punishment is based on Utilitarian ground 1. Prohibits the criminal from offending again 2. Deterrence for would-be offenders
Both of these contribute to creating a greater balance of happiness in society, thus supporting the Utilitarian view
John Locke
He argues a person forfeits his rights when committing even minor crimes His support for Capital Punishment is based on 2 views:
1.
2.
Cost of Imprisonment
New York City's Correction Department spent an average of nearly $59,000 per inmate in the 2003 fiscal year. But when all city expenses are factored in insurance and pension benefits for correction staff, for instance, as well as more than $150 million for jail medical care - the yearly per-inmate cost is closer to $100,000, according to the city's Independent Budget Office. (As reported by NY Times)
Bottom Line
The Death Penalty Incapacitates The Offender. Capital punishment eliminates the threat of convicted murderers killing again. An example of this possibility is provided by James W. Marquart and Jonathan R. Sorenson, sociologists at Sam Houston State University. They examined the histories of all those re-sentenced after the Supreme Court emptied state death rows with its Furman decision. Seven of those released prisoners committed another murder after leaving prison. The recidivism rate for capital punishment is zero. No executed murderer has ever killed again. You can't say that about those sentenced to prison, even if you are an abolitionist.
(deathpenalty.org)
$2,000,000 Million
Estimated cost for CA taxpayers per execution Costs more ($90,000) to house inmates on death row than in the general prison population
86 countries and territories have abolished the death penalty for all crimes
11 countries have abolished the death penalty for all but exceptional crimes such as wartime crimes.
25 countries can be considered abolitionist in practice: they retain the death penalty in law but have not carried out any executions for the past 10 years or more and are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions
Over 40 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes since 1990.
They include countries in Africa (recent examples include Cte dIvoire, Senegal), The Americas (Canada, Paraguay, Mexico), Asia and the Pacific (Bhutan. Samoa, Turkmenistan) And Europe and the South Caucasus (Armenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, Greece, Serbia and Montenegro, Turkey).
Sources
www.deathpenalty.org www.amnestyinternational.org http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/bldeathpenalty.htm http://www.closeup.org/punish.htm http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/dpusa.htm