Death penalty overview

Capital Punishment

a Capital Offense is a Murder that...(THIS VARIES FROM STATE TO STATE!)

•is particularly vile, atrocious, or cruel

•has multiple victims

•occurred during the commission of another felony

•has a victim that was a police/correctional officer in the line of duty

•offender was previously convicted of a capital offense or violent crime

•offender directed an accomplice to commit murder or committed murder at the direction of another

Aggravating vs. Mitigating

•Aggravating Factor- something that makes a murder more serious, allows prosecutor to ask for DP

•Mitigating Factor- something the jury can consider in favor of the defendant, can lessen sentence

Aggravating FACTORSTYPE OF CRIME

•arson

•battery (serious injury)

•burglary

•carjacking

•drug trafficking

•escape

•hijacking

•kidnapping

•robbery

•sexual offenses

•train wrecking

TYPE OF VICTIM

•elected official

•law enforcement- police, parole officer, firefighter, etc

•court officials- judge, lawyer, juror, witness

•hate crime

•informant

•pregnant woman

•youth/child

•handicapped person

“OTHER”

•assault weapon

•released from custody

•disrupting govt function

•drive-by shooting

•in custody

•lying-in-wait

•multiple homicides

•ordered killing

•parole/probation

•monetary gain

•prior felony

•terrorism

•torture

Mitigating Circumstances•age (under 18, over 75)

•another cause for death

•co-defendant spared DP

•cooperation with authorities

•extreme duress

•extreme mental/emotional disturbance

• impaired capacity

•mentally retarded

•minor participation

•moral justification

•no future threat

•no significant prior criminal history

• traumatic stress syndrome

•victim’s consent

Ohio’s Revised CodeAGGRAVATING FACTORS

1.Elected Official

2.Murder for hire

3.murder while in jail, or after breaking out

4.purposeful killing or attempt to kill

5.victim was law enforcement officer

6.murder happened during other crime (kidnapping, rape, arson, robbery, other murder)

7.witness to prevent testimony

•victim under age of 13

1.commit terrorism

MITIGATING FACTORS

1.victim induced or facilitated murder

2.offender under duress or coersion

3.offender “lacked capacity to appreciate” crime

4.offender was a youth

5.offender lacked prior criminal history

•offender was a participant, but not principal offender

1.“factor 7”, other relevant factors

Severity of Crimes• FIRST-DEGREE MURDER: committed with deliberate and

premeditated malice (also if victim is police officer or witness to a crime)

•SECOND-DEGREE MURDER: committed with malice, but without deliberation or premeditation

•VOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER: killing done in the heat of moment, provoked by acts of the victim (such as violent assault)

• INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER (Criminally Negligent Homicide) killing with there is no intention to kill, occurs when killing is a result of another crime (robbery) or out of negligence (car wreck)

• JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE: intentional killing dones in accordance with legal obligations (execution of criminals), killings necessary to prevent a felony, or killings in self-defense

Methods of Execution

•Decapitation

•Electrocution

•Firing Squad

•Gas Chamber

•Hanging

•Shooting

•Stoning

•Lethal injection

•and more...

Topics for Debate...• Is DP a Deterrence?

• Does it Protect Society?

• Is it really Revenge?

• Proportionality to Crime

• Is it Barbaric?

• Expense

• Use of DNA

• Public Opinion

• Executing the Innocent?

• Inconsistent eyewitness testimony

• Fairness between races and classes

• Religious Arguments

• Criminal Justice System

• Variety of Capital Offenses

• Role of the Jury

• 8th Amendment / “Cruel and Unusual”

• Appropriate Application (arbitrariness)

90%+ of death-row inmates are poor. Why is this? Don’t rich people commit crimes?

•Poor legal representation (overworked, overwhelmed public defenders... or new to the process of capital cases?)

•Police and prosecutorial misconduct (forced confessions)

•Perjured testimony or mistaken eyewitness testimony

•Racial prejudice

•Jailhouse “snitch” (shorter sentence for new testimony)

•Suppression or misrepresentation of mitigating evidence

•Community or political pressure to solve cases

Can It Be Fair... To The Poor???

Why So Expensive?•more pre-trial preparation

•more pre-trial motions to file/answer

•more experts to hire

• usually 2 or more attorneys

• jurors pre-screened

• jurors sequestered during trial

• two trials instead of one, one for guilt and second for sentencing

• trial takes longer (estimated 3-5 times longer in length)

• series of required appeals

LEGAL RULINGS•Furman v Georgia 1972- DP is “arbitrary

and capricious”, violated ban on “cruel and unusual punishment”... DP suspended in US

•Gregg v Georgia 1976- revisions in state laws resumed DP

•Estelle v Smith 1981- mental incompetence/retardation

•Ring v Arizona 2005- only sentenced by jury

•Roper v Simmons 2005- min. age of 18

Should CP Be Banned? YES1. Financial costs to taxpayers2. It’s barbaric and violates the "cruel and unusual" clause in the Bill of Rights.3. The endless appeals and required additional procedures clog our court system.4. We have to move away from the "eye for an eye" revenge mentality5. It sends the wrong message: why kill people who kill people to show killing is wrong.6. Life in prison is a worse punishment and a more effective deterrent.7. Other countries (especially in Europe) would have a more favorable image of America.8. Some jury members are reluctant to convict if it means putting someone to death.9. The prisoner's family must suffer from seeing their loved one put to death by the state, as

well as going through the emotionally-draining appeals process.10. The possibility exists that innocent men and women may be put to death.11. Mentally ill patients may be put to death.12. It creates sympathy for the monstrous perpetrators of the crimes.13. It often draws top talent laywers who will work for little or no cost due to the publicity of

the case and their personal beliefs against the morality of the death penalty, increasing the chances a technicality or a manipulated jury will release a guilt person.

• It is useless in that it doesn't bring the victim back to life.

1. Gives closure to the victim's families who have suffered so much.

2. It creates another form of crime deterrent.

3. Justice is better served.

4. Justice system shows more sympathy for criminals than it does victims.

5. It provides a deterrent for prisoners already serving a life sentence.

6. DNA testing and other methods of modern crime scene science can now

effectively eliminate almost all uncertainty as to a person's guilt or innocence.

7. Prisoner parole or escapes can give criminals another chance to kill.

8. It contributes to the problem of overpopulation in the prison system.

9. It gives prosecutors another bargaining chip in the plea bargain process,

which is essential in cutting costs in an overcrowded court system

Should CP Be Banned? NO!