Exam 12: The Death Penalty in America

Some people support a moratorium on executions until the system can be studied and any flaws that are found can be corrected. Others argue that the moratorium effort is really an attempt to abolish the death penalty permanently. Discuss the pros and cons of a moratorium.

A 2009 Gallup Poll demonstrated that 59% of respondents did believe that the United States has executed someone in the past five years who was innocent of the crime.

Capital trials were redesigned to consist of a __________ or two separate phases.

In this case the Court held that to make a showing of racial discrimination sufficient to overturn a death sentence, a defendant would have to demonstrate that some decisionmaker-judge, prosecutor, or jury-acted with "discriminatory purpose" against him or her.

Ethics Focus: Life Without Parole After the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional for juveniles (Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 2005), many people thought that this solved the problem of inappropriate sentences for juvenile murderers. What has happened, however, is that now many juvenile murderers are receiving Life-without-Parole sentences (LWOP). The latest available information shows that some 2,225 juveniles are serving LWOP sentences (Feld, 2008). Critics argue that LWOP sentences are also inappropriate for juveniles. The same rationale that influenced the Supreme Court to rule capital punishment unconstitutional for juveniles-that juveniles are developmentally immature and therefore not fully accountable for their actions-applies to LWOP sentences. In other words, many argue that the psychological immaturity and impulsivity of juveniles should also rule out a sentence of life without parole. Feld (2008), for example, argues that juveniles' lack of complete development should dictate a sentence of no longer than 20 to 30 years for even the most serious crimes. In the Roper decision, Justice Antonin Scalia argued that he would leave the decision of the penalty for a murder by a juvenile in the hands of the jury in that case. He argued that the jury should take into account the possible immaturity of the juvenile and decide whether to impose the death penalty. So, perhaps, he would argue for such jury decisionmaking concerning life without parole. Recall also, however, that youth (immaturity) is supposed to be a mitigator that juries consider to reduce sentences down from the death penalty. In practice, though, juries often use youth (young age) as an aggravator; juries often think that if an offender is young he represents a greater danger and therefore should receive a harsher or longer sentence. [Note: In June 2012, in a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court said states can no longer hand out automatic life-without-parole sentences to juveniles convicted of certain violent crimes.] -Do you think age should be considered a mitigating circumstance? Why or why not?

The Court ruled that mandatory statutes that required imposition of the death penalty upon conviction of certain crimes were __________, but it approved statutes that provided juries with aggravating and mitigating circumstances to guide their sentencing discretion.

The history of the death penalty in the __________ is closely connected to the region's racial history.

__________ is clearly moving toward the abolition of the death penalty.

The Court ruled in this case that lethal injection is not cruel and unusual punishment.

__________ sometimes point out that many endeavors run the risk of death for innocent people; we try to minimize the risk, but accept that some fatal errors will be made.

A Supreme Court ruling now prevents juveniles from being sentenced to death. Do you support or oppose this ruling, and why?

The death penalty statute lists __________ circumstances, which typically include factors such as the offender having previous convictions for violent crimes or whether the homicide was committed in the course of a felony or was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel.

Can the administration of the death penalty be improved by changing the laws? Draft a model death penalty statute that you think would adequately guide juror discretion.

__________ counter that the cases of exoneration prove that the system does make mistakes, and we have no way of knowing how many other mistakes have not been caught and rectified.

A number of recent executions have been "botched"-that is, the prisoners' deaths were prolonged and possibly quite painful. Does the state have an obligation to provide a quick and painless means of death?

Liebman et al.'s (2000) study regarding death sentence reversals found that one of the most common reasons for reversal was the result of __________ of evidence that the defendant is innocent or does not deserve the death penalty.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in this case that the death penalty as administered was unconstitutional.

Since 1973, __________ people condemned to death have been exonerated and released.

A 2009 Gallup Poll demonstrated that __________ of respondents did believe that the United States has executed someone in the past five years who was innocent of the crime.

Should the policies of the United States' criminal justice system be influenced by practices in other countries? Why or why not?