POL 306 April 19, 2011 Dr. Inscho Anthony Staup, Shannon Sawyer, Amy Ruehl, Keith Conti, Katlyn Lopus, William Bair.

POL 306

April 19, 2011

Dr. Inscho

Anthony Staup, Shannon Sawyer, Amy Ruehl, Keith Conti,

Katlyn Lopus, William Bair

Capital Punishment

2

“legally authorized killing of someone as punishment for a crime”

It gets hazy at this point because how is one convicted person chosen the death penalty over others?

Capital Punishment, Defined.

3

“the decision that capital punishment may be the appropriate sanction in extreme cases is an expression of the community's belief that certain crimes are themselves so grievous an affront to humanity that the only adequate response may be the penalty of death."

~Supreme Court of the United States of America

Cont.

4

States for and Against Capital Punishment

5

Firing SquadHangingLethal GasLethal InjectionElectric Chair

Current Forms of Capital Punishment

6

CostInnocenceNot a deterrentPublic Opinion

Current Major Issues

7

European settlers took with them the ideals of Great Britain

Deeply rooted in American and world culture

History of the Policy

8

Is it humane?Furman vs. Georgia 1972

New policy formed

Policy

9

State MandatedFederal crimes are an exception

35 with Death Penalty15Without

Policy

10

States with and without Death Penalty

11

IllinoisAbolished the death Penalty

West VirginiaA bill was introduced to reinstate the death

penalty (defeated)Utah

Limiting # of Appeals

Ever-changing Process

12

Federal Government• Certain Crimes fall

under capital punishment

• Supreme Court • Federal Issue can

overrule state law

13

State Government35 of 50 states have

death penaltyStates have more

impact on death penalty laws

States Enforcement

14

Amnesty InternationalStarted by British lawyer Peter BenensonBegan campaigning for human rights in 1961Comprised of over 2.2 million members in 150

countries.Tactics used:

Direct lobbying.Public demonstrations.Targeted appeals. Human rights education.

Death to the death penalty

Non-Governmental Actors

15

Justice for All"If we execute murderers and there is in fact

no deterrent effect, we have killed a bunch of murderers. If we fail to execute murderers, and doing so would in fact have deterred other murders, we have allowed the killing of a bunch of innocent victims. I would much rather risk the former. This, to me, is not a tough call." ~~John McAdams - Marquette University/Department of Political Science, on deterrence

Cont.

16

Is an all volunteer, non-profit organization.Created in order to push for justice and to

promote victims rights.Tactics used:

Started projects to promote victim awareness, such as:Website database.Park memorial.

Cont.

17

Wrongly sentenced deathDue to unfair trials,

unreliable evidence, and police misconduct

Homicide rates in states without the capital punishment are lower than the national averageProven to not deter murder

Current Policies are not Effective

18

Cost of trial and sentencing More involved process when capital punishment is possible

sentence Cost/Opportunity of appealResources are diverted

Positive incarceration programs suffer from high costs of capital punishment cases.

Cost of Capital Punishment

19

Death row inmates often can not afford lawyersProvided aid is at

lesser quality to well paid attorneys

Residence of criminalNon-cohesive states

provide great difference in similar trials depending on state crime is trialed in

Trial Fairness

This lawyers first capital punishment case

20

Gregg vs. Georgia of 1976Each state who facilities capital punishment

must also have a list of “capital offenses” or crimes for which capital punishment could be sentenced

Difference in lists of capital offenses leads to inconsistencies

State mandated capital offenses

21

Only just over half of public believe capital punishment should not be used

Juries are beginning to sentence death more infrequently.

Public Opinion

22

Studies showed that prosecutors are more likely to sentence death when the race of the victim is white

Race in Capital Punishment Cases

23

There have been approximately 560,000 murders and 358 executions from 1967-1996 FBI's Uniform Crime Report (UCR) & Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).

Therefore one of our recommendations is to increase the number of persons executed to make the death penalty a real deterrent for murder.

Policy Recommendations

24

If the states chose to follow these standards they would receive extra money from the Federal Government to be used for criminal justice.

This would make the entire system fairer. Some of the statutes that we would like to see

in this standard would be the number of appeals allowed for each case, to cut down on costs associated with capital punishment cases, and a list that showed what crimes were punishable by death.

Set a predetermined set of standards that each state would follow

25

If the death penalty was to no longer exist life sentences would fill that spot and would become more expensive and less likely used.

It would also make life sentences seem more severe. This scares our group because it could lead to lower sentences for major crimes.

Death Penalty is the highest form of punishment in the United States

26

Justice For All - A Criminal Justice Reform Organization. Web. 16 Apr. 2011. <http://www.jfa.net/index.html>.

"Universal Declaration of Human Rights." Amnesty International USA - Protect Human Rights. Web. 16 Apr. 2011. <http://www.amnestyusa.org/human-rights/universal-declaration-of-human-rights/page.do?id=1031003>.

"Innocence." Pro-death Penalty.com. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. <http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/innocence.htm>.

"Death Penalty : Profiles of Exonerees, Victims, and Law Enforcement." Death Penalty. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. <http://deathpenalty.org/section.php?id=26>.

"State by State Database." Death Penalty Information Center. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. <http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/state_by_state>.

"Death Penalty Facts." Amnesty International. Web. <http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/factsheets/DeathPenalty Facts.pdf>.

Dictionary Google. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. <http://www.google.com/search?source=ig>. "Facts About the Death Penalty." Death Penalty Information Center. Web.

<http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/FactSheet.pdf>. Marzilli, Alan. Capital Punishment. New York: Chelsea House, 2008. Print. Aiusa Death Penalty Abolition Campaign. "Death Penalty Facts." Amnesty USA. Amnesty International,

Oct. 2010. Web. 10 Apr. 2011. <http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/factsheets/DeathPenaltyFacts.pdf>.

Work Cited