Deck 9: Miscarriages of Justice and the Death Penalty

Question 1

According to M. Watt Espy Jr., approximately what percent of those persons executed in the United States since 1608 have been innocent of the crimes for which they were executed?

A) 0
B) 5
C) 10
D) 15
E) 25

Answer 1

B

Question 2

According to Bedau and Radelet, how many people were wrongfully convicted of capital crimes in the United States in the 20th century?

A) 23
B) 58
C) 120
D) 496
E) 1,818

Answer 2

D

Question 3

According to Bedau and Radelet, approximately what percent of the people wrongfully convicted of capital crimes in the United States in the 20th century were convicted prior to 1976 and the implementation of "super due process"?

A) 20
B) 40
C) 60
D) 80
E) 100

Answer 3

D

Question 4

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, how many people have been released from death rows because of evidence of their innocence between 1973 and December 2015?

A) 0
B) 28
C) 156
D) 241
E) 514

Question 5

According to Bedau and Radelet, how many people were wrongfully executed for capital crimes in the United States in the 20th century?

A) 0
B) 6
C) 23
D) 47
E) 92

Question 6

Who, among the following, was not released from death row because of evidence of his innocence?

A) Randall Dale Adams
B) Timothy Hennis
C) Leonel Torres Herrera
D) William Brennan
E) all of the above were released from death row

Question 7

According to Bedau and Radelet, who was an allegedly innocent person executed under post-Furman statutes?

A) Randall Adams
B) James Adams
C) Gary Gilmore
D) John Ritter
E) none of the above

Question 8

In which of the following cases did the Supreme Court create the harmless error rule?

A) Furman v. Georgia
B) Gregg v. Georgia
C) Chapman v. California
D) McCleskey v. Kemp
E) none of the above

Question 9

In the case of a claim of innocence based on new evidence, Virginia has the shortest deadline in the United States. How long does Virginia give a defendant to make a claim of innocence following conviction?

A) 48 hours
B) 7 days
C) 21 days
D) 90 days
E) 1 year

Question 10

According to the Liebman study, approximately what percent of the fully reviewed state death sentences imposed between 1973 and 1995 were reversed at one of the appeal stages because of serious or prejudicial errors?

A) 0
B) 10
C) 33
D) 67
E) 90

Question 11

According to the Liebman study, in approximately what percent of the reversals by state post-conviction courts did the defendant deserve a sentence other than death when the errors were cured on retrial?

A) 0
B) 20
C) 40
D) 60
E) 80

Question 12

According to the Liebman study, in what percent of the reversals by state post-conviction courts was the defendant found to be innocent of the capital crime?

A) 0
B) 7
C) 15
D) 33
E) 50

Question 13

According to the Liebman study, which of the following was not a reason for reversals by state post-conviction courts?

A) ineffective assistance of counsel
B) prosecutor misconduct
C) unconstitutional jury instructions
D) judge/jury bias
E) all of the above were reasons for reversals

Question 14

According to Gross, during which of the following stages do most errors in capital cases occur?

A) police investigation
B) the decision to charge by the prosecutor
C) the guilt stage of the trial
D) the sentencing stage of the trial
E) the post-conviction stage

Question 15

What is the term used to describe the practice of crime lab technicians fabricating results to support police suspicions without ever testing the evidence?

A) vacant verification
B) dry labbing
C) dry humping
D) evidence extraction
E) none of the above

Question 16

In what percent of the cases studied in a 2004 Chicago Tribune investigation of 200 DNA and death row exonerations nationwide between 1984 and 2004 was original forensic testing or testimony flawed?

A) 5
B) 15
C) 25
D) 40
E) 50

Question 17

In a recent study of 88 cases under post-Furman statutes (through December 31, 2000) in which people were completely exonerated of crimes for which they were sentenced to die, which of the following types of prosecutor misconduct occurred most frequently?

A) withholding exculpatory evidence
B) subordination of perjury
C) use of improper evidence
D) improper closing argument
E) none of the above

Question 18

Which of the following is not a source of wrongful convictions in capital cases?

A) shoddy investigation by the police
B) eyewitness misidentification
C) false confessions
D) guilty pleas by innocent defendants
E) all of the above are sources of wrongful convictions

Question 19

What was the foremost cause of wrongful convictions in capital cases found by Bedau and Radelet and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University Law School?

A) perjury by prosecution witnesses
B) eyewitness misidentification
C) false confessions
D) failure of prosecutors to dismiss the charges against ostensibly innocent defendants
E) none of the above

Question 20

For which of the following types of cases in a recent study of death-eligible cases in Maryland were prosecutors not significantly more likely to seek the death penalty?

A) cases in which an offender had a history of alcohol problems
B) cases in which an offender had a troubled job history
C) cases in which a victim was an acquaintance of the offender
D) cases in which a victim was unable to defend himself or herself
E) in all of the above cases prosecutors were significantly more likely to seek the death penalty

Question 21

In a study of 381 murder convictions since 1963 that were reversed because of police or prosecutor misconduct, how many prosecutors who broke the law were convicted or disbarred for their misconduct?

A) 0
B) 6
C) 12
D) 24
E) 76

Question 22

According to a 1990 National Law Journal study, which of the following statements about legal representation of poor capital defendants in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas is not true?

A) they had lawyers who had never handled a capital trial before
B) they had lawyers who lacked training in life-or-death cases
C) they had lawyers who made little effort to present evidence in support of a life sentence
D) they had lawyers who had been reprimanded, disciplined or subsequently disbarred
E) all of the statements are true

Question 23

In which of the following 1984 cases did the Supreme Court provide guidelines as to when counsel may become ineffective?

A) Pulley v. Harris
B) Spaziano v. Florida
C) Strickland v. Washington
D) Arizona v. Fulminante
E) none of the above

Question 24

In a study that compared innocent capital defendants who were eventually exonerated and released from death row and innocent capital defendants who were later executed, defendants with private lawyers at trial were how many times more likely to be exonerated and released from death row than defendants with court-appointed attorneys?

A) 3
B) 9
C) 15
D) 25
E) 50

Question 25

Which of the following is not a reason the Court, in Strickland v. Washington, refused to adopt performance guidelines for evaluating counsel in capital cases?

A) the Court assumed that any attorney who graduated from a reputable law school and had passed the bar exam was competent to represent capital defendants
B) the purpose of the effective assistance guarantee was not to improve the quality of legal representation
C) the Court concluded that no particular set of detailed rules for counsel's conduct could satisfactorily take account of the variety of circumstances faced by defense counsel or the range of legitimate decisions regarding how best to represent a criminal defendant
D) the Court was concerned that the adoption of specific standards would encourage ineffectiveness claims, which would discourage many attorneys from representing defendants in capital cases
E) all of the above were reasons

Question 26

Which of the following is not a type of clemency relevant to capital punishment?

A) reprieve
B) commutation
C) deletion
D) pardon
E) all of the above are types of clemency

Question 27

Which of the following is the most common type of clemency employed in capital cases?

A) reprieve
B) commutation
C) deletion
D) pardon
E) none of the above

Question 28

Which of the following types of clemency is rarely granted in capital cases?

A) reprieve
B) commutation
C) deletion
D) pardon
E) all of the above are types of clemency

Question 29

Which of the following are suggested ways to stop miscarriages of justice?

A) Improve eyewitness identification techniques and procedures
B) Improve DNA testing requirements
C) Punish the misconduct of defense attorneys
D) Punish police misconduct
E) All of the above

Question 30

Which of the following is not one of the most common reasons for granting clemency during the post-Furman period?

A) doubts about the offender's guilt
B) the offender's mental retardation
C) the offender's mental illness
D) equitable concerns about offenders who have received harsher sanctions than other participants in the same crime
E) all of the above are common reasons for granting clemency

Question 31

In the twentieth century, no government official in the United States ever admitted to being involved in the execution of an innocent person.

Question 32

The best evidence of miscarriages of justice in capital cases are those convicted capital offenders who have been freed prior to their executions.

Question 33

Victims of miscarriages of justice in capital cases frequently receive indemnity from the state that wrongfully convicted them.

Question 34

During the first seven and one-half decades of this century, there was an average of about six "discovered" wrongful convictions in capital cases a year. That was about the same number of "discovered" wrongful convictions per year during the 1980s, with "super due process."

Question 35

The average number of innocent death row inmates being released has been decreasing.

Question 36

As many as 26 people (and likely more) may have been executed in error in the United States since 1976 and the implementation of "super due process."

Question 37

Research shows that exonerated defendants today receive more than ten times the number of newspaper stories, per individual, than those who were exonerated before 1991.

Question 38

Most errors in capital cases are probably never discovered, but of those that are there are two general types: "harmless" errors and "serious" or "prejudicial" errors.

Question 39

Appellate courts will reverse convictions and sentences only for serious or prejudicial errors that have been properly preserved.

Question 40

Prior to the mid-1990s, there was no harmless error and nearly any mistake, especially a violation of a defendant's constitutional rights, was considered serious or prejudicial even if it did not affect the outcome of the trial.

Question 41

At each appeal stage, what constitutes serious or prejudicial error becomes more restrictive mostly due to the requirement that error be properly preserved.

Question 42

Several capital defendants have been executed despite obvious prejudicial errors because of their lawyers' failure to properly preserve their objections.

Question 43

Today, most error discovered by state appellate courts in capital cases is considered serious or prejudicial and results in reversals.

Question 44

Given the restrictive requirements of serious or prejudicial error, the percentage of death sentences reversed on those grounds is small (less than 20 percent).

Question 45

Decades of research show that eyewitnesses are just not very good at identifying criminal offenders especially when the eyewitnesses are under stress or are attempting to identify offenders of a different race.

Question 46

Oftentimes the witnesses who are most certain of their identification are the least likely to be correct.

Question 47

Prosecutors are the most powerful people in the capital punishment process.

Question 48

A "Brady violation" refers to a prosecutor's subordination of perjury.

Question 49

A sign seen in the Dallas County, Texas prosecutor's office reads: "Convicting the guilty is easy. It's the innocent that keep us working late."

Question 50

Despite relatively easy access to the technology, many local prosecutors refuse to release crime evidence for DNA analysis unless litigation is threatened or filed.

Question 51

Prosecutors have a legal obligation to release crime evidence for DNA analysis once a trial has been concluded so that a convicted defendant can prove his or her innocence.

Question 52

Current laws protect prosecutors from civil suits even when they knowingly allow perjured testimony or deliberately conceal evidence of innocence.

Question 53

Evidence indicates that the system assigns the defense of most capital cases to the least experienced, resourceful, and independent members of the legal profession.

Question 54

A Texas study by the Governor's judicial council found that three-quarters of murderers with court-appointed attorneys were sentenced to death, while only about a third of those represented by private lawyers were so sentenced.

Question 55

An attorney who slept through a capital trial would be considered "ineffective."

Question 56

All death penalty states have adopted minimum guidelines or standards or created an agency to promulgate standards for the appointment of counsel at either the trial or appellate level or both in capital cases.

Question 57

It is not unusual for attorneys in capital cases to be compensated at less than minimum wage, and states are increasingly appointing attorneys in capital cases who submit the lowest bids.

Question 58

As late as 2004, Florida had a $3,500 cap on the payment for defense services in capital cases, meaning that state-funded lawyers in Florida capital cases would be paid an estimated $3.00 an hour.

Question 59

Many judges will appoint any lawyer licensed to practice law to represent a capital defendant, even if the lawyer's practice is limited mostly to real estate or divorce law.

Question 60

Capital jurisprudence is a highly specialized area of the criminal law, and most attorneys have not received instruction in it.

Question 61

Capital defendants have a 7th Amendment right to the "effective assistance of counsel."

Question 62

A capital defendant making a claim of ineffective counsel must demonstrate both that the performance of counsel was deficient under prevailing professional norms and that the substandard performance prejudiced the outcome of the trial.

Question 63

In all death penalty states, ineffective assistance of counsel claims can be heard on direct appeal.

Question 64

All death penalty states have adopted minimum guidelines or standards for the appointment of counsel at either the trial or appellate level or both in capital cases.

Question 65

Chief Justice Rehnquist considers executive clemency the "fail safe" of the criminal justice system.

Question 66

Many death sentences have been commuted under post-Furman statutes.

Question 67

Prior to 1970 governors in death penalty states routinely commuted up to a third of the death sentences that they reviewed, but since then only about one death sentence a year (in the entire country) has been commuted.

Question 68

Most death penalty states, especially those with the largest number of executions, have adopted the CDO model of legal representation in capital cases.

Question 69

A major problem in police investigations of capital crimes is "tunnel vision" or "confirmatory bias."

Question 70

According to experts, convictions for murder based on the testimony of a single eyewitness or accomplice, without any other corroboration, should never be death eligible.

Question 71

As of 2010, most death penalty states gave inmates the right to use the latest DNA testing.

Question 72

According to experts, the uncorroborated testimony of a jailhouse snitch/informant witness about the confession or admission of the defendant should never be the sole basis for imposition of a death penalty.

Question 73

According to experts, following conviction the prosecutor should have a continuing obligation to make timely disclosure to the defendant's counsel, or the defendant if not represented by counsel, of the existence of evidence known to the prosecutor that tends to negate the guilt of the defendant or mitigate the defendant's capital sentence.

Question 74

According to experts, claims of actual innocence in capital cases based on newly discovered evidence should be heard by a court of record any time after conviction, without regard for other post-conviction matters or timing.

Question 75

Based largely on the Anthony Porter case, the series by the Chicago Tribune, and the fact that Illinois had released thirteen condemned inmates from death row since 1977 while executing twelve, Republican Governor George Ryan, himself a proponent of the death penalty, imposed a moratorium on capital punishment in Illinois in January 2000.

Question 76

In eight national public opinion polls conducted between February 2000 and May 2006, only 62-69 percent of adults or registered voters in the United States were in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder. This was the lowest level of support recorded in a national poll in more than twenty years, and likely the first time the level of support had fallen below 70 percent during that period.

Question 77

Most miscarriages of justice in capital cases, especially wrongful convictions, mean that the actual killer has gone free and remains able to prey upon an unsuspecting public.

Question 78

According to Professor Baumgartner and his colleagues, innocence projects affiliated with major universities and staffed with student volunteers are the single most important factor in focusing the media's, and through the media, the public's attention on the issue of innocence.

Question 79

According to Professor Baumgartner and his colleagues, the spread of innocence projects may be one of the most significant causes of the increased rate of exonerations.

Question 80

It appears that "super due process" protections have made a huge difference in the incidence of wrongful convictions in capital cases.