Transcript File - Clydeview Academy Humanities Website

USA
Capital Punishment
International Context
•United States is unique
among Western
industrialized countries.
•In 1999, Amnesty
International reported that
86% of all known executions
took place in the Congo,
China, Iran and the United
States.
• Many countries now
consider capital punishment
to be a human rights violation
and refuse to extradite
someone who may be
executed in the United
States.
Death Penalty Policy By State
STATES WITH THE DEATH PENALTY
Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Indiana
Illinois
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maryland
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York *
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington
Wyoming
ALSO
- U.S. Gov't
- U.S. Military
* The New York (6/24) death penalty statute was declared
unconstitutional in 2004.
STATES WITHOUT THE DEATH PENALTY
Alaska
Hawaii
Iowa
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
North Dakota
Rhode Island
Vermont
West Virginia
Wisconsin
ALSO
- Dist. of Columbia
Executions in the U.S.
Executions in the United States
Over two-thirds of
executions occur in
Texas;
History of C.P. the United States
• Has been used since colonial times; first
recorded execution was in 1608. Was initially
conducted in the open; was a public event, often
accompanied by celebration and, later, riots.
•1930‐1967: Nearly 4,000 people were executed.
Of these, over half (54%) were black, 45% were
white. Three out of five executions during this
period took place in the southern U.S. states.
• In 1972‐‐Furman v. Georgia—Supreme Court ruled that:
• The death penalty as practiced in Georgia was a violation of
the 8th Amendment, which bans cruel and unusual
punishment, as well as the 14th Amendment.
• In response, Georgia, Texas, and Florida allowed
sentencing courts the discretion to impose death sentences
for specified crimes and provided for two‐stage, or
bifurcated, trials.
• In 1976 the Court reinstated the death penalty after a ten
year moratorium. Since 1977 over 650 people have been
executed by the U.S. government.
Issues
Death
Timerow
on inmates
Death Row
in the U.S. typically spend over a decade awaiting execution.
Some prisoners have been on death row for well over 20 years.
Death row inmates in the U.S. typically spend over a decade awaiting execution.
Some this
prisoners
haveare
been
on death
row forfrom
wellother
over prisoners,
20 years. excluded from
During
time, they
generally
isolated
prison educational and employment programs, and sharply restricted in terms of
During this
they are
generally
otheraprisoners,
from
visitation
andtime,
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spending
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much asfrom
23 hours
day aloneexcluded
in their cells.
prison educational and employment programs, and sharply restricted in terms of
visitation
muchrow
as prisoners
23 hours aare
day
alone intwo
theirdistinct
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This
raisesand
theexercise,
question spending
of whetherasdeath
receiving
punishments: the death sentence itself, and the years of living in conditions
This raises to
thesolitary
question
of whether–death
rowform
prisoners
are receiving
tantamount
confinement
a severe
of punishment
that two
maydistinct
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punishments:
the limited
death sentence
itself,
and the years ofprisoners.
living in conditions
used
only for very
periods for
general-population
tantamount to solitary confinement – a severe form of punishment that may be
used only unlike
for very
limited periods forprisoners,
general-population
prisoners.
Moreover,
general-population
even in solitary
confinement, deathrow inmates live in a state of constant uncertainty over when they will be executed.
Moreover,
unlikerow
general-population
prisoners,
even inresults
solitaryinconfinement,
deathFor
some death
inmates, this isolation
and anxiety
a sharp
row inmates in
live
in amental
state of
constant uncertainty over when they will be executed.
deterioration
their
status.
For some death row inmates, this isolation and anxiety results in a sharp
deterioration in their mental status.
Deterrence (General)
• Cross‐sectional studies
‐compare states &
countries with and without
the death penalty.
• Longitudinal studies—
analyse consequences
of adoption or
abolition.
 States/countries with
capital punishment do
not have lower
homicide rates.
Homicides increase
with the adoption of
C.P and decrease with
abolition
Incapacitation
Obviously, an incapacitative effect occurs.
But this can be achieved in other ways for truly
dangerous offenders.
•Also, most murders are situational.
•Most people convicted of homicide
are first time offenders. Serial killers
are responsible for an average of
50‐60 murders per year, less than ¼
of 1% of all homicides.
•Of 240 death row convicts who were released in the
1970s, only 1 killed again.
Retribution
Question: Why is this idea applied only in the case of
murder?
Don’t require that rapists be raped.
Or that robbers be robbed.
•Psychological studies indicate that imposing death
does not provide closure or reduce grief.
Fiscal Costs
It costs a lot to keep people in prison for extended periods.
It also costs a lot to try and appeal capital cases.
•CA state government estimates that it costs $5
million to execute and $1 million to imprison for life.
Public Opinion
•About 75% of Americans report being in favour of the death
penalty. But:
If they have the option of being undecided,
support drops to about 60%.
When told it has no deterrent effect, support drops
to about 55%.
62% say they are comfortable with life in prison as an
alternative to death.
Race and the Death Penalty
All studies on the subject have found that blacks are
significantly more likely to be sentenced to death than
whites, especially if the victim was white.
Innocence
• Many innocent people
have been sentenced to
death and even executed.
• Many states do not
provide financial
assistance to capital
defendants to appeal
their convictions.
The Innocence Project (157 exonerated):
http://www.innocenceproject.org/
Sources of Mistakes:
2 DNA Inclusions at Time of Trial
6 Other Forensic Inclusions
15 False Confessions
16Informants / Snitches
17 False Witness Testimony
21 Microscopic Hair Comparison
Matches
23 Bad Lawyering
26 Defective or Fraudulent
Science
34 Prosecutorial Misconduct
38 Police Misconduct
40 Serology Inclusion
61 Mistaken I.D.
The Case of Roger Keith Coleman
• Convicted of killing his sister‐in‐law; scheduled to die in
1992.
•After trial, exculpatory evidence was discovered.
But the U.S. Court refused to halt the execution:
•Coleman’s attorneys had missed a deadline by 3 days.
•And because the SC has ruled that the federal courts
must only rule on legal, not evidentiary, issues.
•Coleman was executed as scheduled.
• SC Justice Blackmun: “The execution of a person who
can show he is innocent comes perilously close to murder.”
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