1. Chapter 20
The Death Penalty

2. The Death Penalty The Debate over Capital Punishment
The Death Penalty in America
Death Row Population Public Opinion
The Death Penalty and the Constitution
Key U.S Supreme Court Decisions
Continuing Legal Issues
Who is on Death Row?
Who Are They?
Where Was the Crime Committed?
Who Was the Prosecutor?
Was Race a Factor?
A Continuing Debate?

3. capital punishment debate the PRO side
moral arguments
retribution calls for death penalty
utilitarian arguments (deterrence)
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
Ehrich: each execution between 1933 & 1969 prevented between 7 & 8 murders
National Academy of Sciences reanalyzed data & dismissed findings
economic arguments
death penalty is less expensive than life imprisonment 

4. capital punishment debate the CON side
moral arguments
capital punishment is not moral
state does not have the right to take a life
utilitarian arguments (deterrence)
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
extra $216,000 to prosecute; $2.16 million to execute
other arguments
mistakes are unavoidable & irreversible
death sentence imposed in unfair & discriminatory way
e.g., by race, jurisdiction, even politics (see Houston)
e.g., 1,000 murders to 1 execution

5. 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
support generally risen over last 35 years
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

6. Comparing Homicide Rates and Executions in Four States

7. % states with death penalty
NO death penalty
WITH death penalty

8. Persons Executed in the United States, 1930–2006

9. Attitudes toward the Death Penalty for Persons Convicted of Murder, 1965–2006

10. death penalty by the numbers
270 death sentences are pronounced yearly
compared to 22,000 yearly arrests for murder & non-negligent manslaughter
# persons on death row exceeds 3,700
54 women are on death row
722 executions from July, 2001
yearly executions generally > 74 since 1976

11. 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...

12. 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 mitigating circumstances 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)

13. McCleskey v. Kemp, 1987
U.S. Supreme Court rejected a constitutional challenge (to Georgia’s death penalty law) on the grounds of racial discrimination
attorney cited rigorous research showing the application of the death sentence in Georgia was racially biased.
Court rejected claim (5-4 vote), ruling:
in cases alleging racial discrimination, defendant has to prove decision makers acted with a discriminatory purpose in that specific case.
statistical evidence showing discrimination throughout the state was not adequate proof.
McKleskey executed in 1991

14. legal issues re: capital punishment
execution of “insane”
counsel
execution of juveniles
populations & processes
appeals
execution of retarded

15. Ford v. Wainwright, 1986
U.S. Supreme Court ruled the 8th Amendment prohibited the state from executing the incompetent; the accused must comprehend both the fact that he has been sentenced to death and reason for it.
accused was delusional, claiming KKK was part of a conspiracy to get him to commit suicide
Court ruled there is no deterrent or retributive value to executing the mentally disturbed
idea is offensive to humanity

16. execution of juveniles
minimum age for execution varies by state
8 states don’t specify
in some, age is same as juvenile “waiver” age
84 males on death row who were < 18 (at time of offense)
Thompson v. Oklahoma, 1988
decided that William Thompson, 15 when he committed murder, could not be executed
Sanford v. Kentucky & Wilkins v. Missouri, 1989
offenders aged 16 and 17 can be executed

17. execution of the retarded
360 offenders on death row are retarded
the retarded account for 10% of executions
Penry v. Lynaugh, 1989
Supreme Court held 8th Amendment does NOT prohibit execution of the mentally retarded;
Penry was a convicted killer with an IQ of 56 and mental capacity of a 7-year-old.

18. “habeas corpus petition”
a writ requesting a court to review the conditions of incarceration or the basis of detention
habeas corpus is the only means by which a federal court can hear challenges by state inmates to their convictions and/or sentences
before an inmate may file a complaint in federal court, he must “exhaust” all the administrative remedies that the state courts make available to him.

19. 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.
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

20. counsel appointed counsel often receive small fees
e.g., $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”
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.”

21. where executions happen, 1976 - July, 2001

22. inmates on death row by race