The Death Penalty
A Social Stratification presentation by:
Michael Scully
Amanda Sand
Cameo Cott
Megan Leavengood
Sara Sheehan
Emma Walsh
Jason Boothe
A Brief History of
the Death Penalty
by Michael Scully
A Brief History of the Death Penalty
The Crucifixion
A Brief History of the Death Penalty
The Guillotine
A Brief History of the Death Penalty
Changes in the Death Penalty
In 1793 Pennsylvania became the first state to use
the ―degrees of murder‖ system
In 1835 New York ended public executions,
bringing them inside prison walls
Laws began to narrow capital offenses, relegating
executions to only the serious crimes
Methods of execution
– Originally hanging was the preferred method
– In 1888, the electric chair started its tenure
– 1923 saw the advent of the gas chamber
– In 1982, lethal injection saw its first use
A Brief History of the Death Penalty
The Abolitionist Movement
In 1847 Michigan’s Supreme Court repealed
capital punishment
– Followed the next year by Wisconsin and Rhode Island
– In the next century, abolishment of the death penalty
was checkered throughout the U.S., at times re-
establishing it within a year
The 1950’s saw a renewed zeal for abolitionist
groups, climaxing in 1972 with the U.S. Supreme
Court Case Furman v. Georgia
– This brought about a nationwide moratorium on capital
punishment lasting roughly 8 years
A Brief History of the Death Penalty
The Abolitionist Movement
In 1977 the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated
capital punishment in Gregg v. Georgia
– Although the death penalty was reestablished,
Furman had a lasting impact on the issue
• It forced states to revamp their capital offense
procedures
• Mandatory death sentences were found
unconstitutional
• Non-homicidal capital punishment ended
• Appeals for the guilty were broadened
Cost Effectiveness
of the System
by Amanda Sand
Cost Effectiveness of the System
How much does the government really pay?
Death Penalty Life
Imprisonment
California $2.1 million $1.5 million
Texas $2.3 million $766,666
Florida $3.2 million $600,000
Cost Effectiveness of the System
Financial Facts:
Kansas—Death Penalty Cases are 70%
more expensive
Indiana—Costs of the death penalty
exceed life without parole by 38%
North Carolina—Death Penalty costs
$2.16 million more per execution than life
without parole
Cost Effectiveness of the System
More death penalty info:
Using this extreme amount of money for
every individual death penalty case,
money spent on deterring crime is reduced
in excess
What are some of the reasons behind such
high costs?
Black v. White Salary and Affordability
of Lawyers
Cost Effectiveness of the System
Why do we still use the death penalty
since it is so cost inefficient?
Theory – Structural Functionalism
Legal
Representation
by Cameo Cott
Legal Representation
“People on trial for their lives often receive
lawyers so grotesquely inept, inexperienced
and incompetent as to be laughable were it
to occur in any other context other than a
life-or-death trial.”
National Law Journal 1990
– Florida
– Georgia
Legal Representation
“The death penalty is a poor person’s issue.
Always remember that after all the rhetoric
that goes on in the legislative assemblies, in
the end, when the deck is cast, it is the poor
who are selected to die in this country.”
Sister Helen Prejean
Inept & Incompetent
Sleepers
Legal Representation
“I have yet to see a death case among the dozens
coming to the Supreme Court on eve-of-execution
stay applications in which the defendant was well
represented at trial…People who are well
represented at trial do not get the death penalty.”
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Innocents
Illinois Moratorium
– recommendations
Racial Inequality
by Megan Leavengood
Racial Inequality
There are two main areas of racial
inequality:
Race of the accused
Race of the victim
Racial Inequality
Race of the Accused
Certain states have more inequality
Certain crimes or acts target minorities
more than other groups
Certain judicial inequalities affect race
Racial Inequality
Race of the Victim
White victims are over-represented
Minority victims are underrepresented
Individuals are more likely to face death if
the victim is white
Theory – DuBois – Double Consciousness
and the Veil – Double Aim Solution
According to DuBois
Women and the
Death Penalty
by Sara Sheehan
Women and the Death Penalty
Statistics
20,000 people have been executed in
America since colonial times. Only 400
of them have been women.
In the 20th century, there have been only
39 executions of women. (Kaufman-Osborn 1998)
Since 1976 there have been 3,533 death
penalty sentences, where just 859 were
actually executed, of these, only 10 were
women. That means 1.2% of the
executions that occurred since 1976 were
of women. (Clark County Prosecutor, Indiana 2004)
Women and the Death Penalty
Perception of Women Committing Crimes
Differences from men
Justifiable (Crocker)
Women and the Death Penalty
Juliet Mitchell
4 Key Structures to Holding Women Back
– Production
– Reproduction
– Sexuality
– Socialization of Children
The Issue of
Mental
Retardation
by Emma Walsh
The Issue of Mental Retardation
What is Mental Retardation?
Mental retardation is a lifelong condition of impaired or
incomplete mental development.
According to the most widely used definition of mental
retardation, it is characterized by three criteria: significantly
subaverage intellectual functioning; concurrent and related
limitations in two or more adaptive skill areas; and
manifestation before age eighteen.
The vast majority of people in the United States have I.Q.s
between 80 and 120, with an I.Q. of 100 considered average.
To be diagnosed as having mental retardation, a person must
have an I.Q. below 70-75, i.e. significantly below average.
If a person scores below 70 on a properly administered and
scored I.Q. test, he or she is in the bottom 2 percent of the
American population and meets the first condition necessary to
be defined as having mental retardation.
The Issue of Mental Retardation
United States Law
Until 2002, U.S. constitutional law permitted the execution of
offenders with mental retardation.
In the 1989 case of Penry v. Lynaugh, the U.S. Supreme Court
reviewed the constitutionality of the death sentence of Johnny
Paul Penry, a man with mental retardation who was convicted
of raping, beating, and fatally stabbing a young woman in
Texas. A sharply divided court decided that the execution of
persons with mental retardation did not constitute cruel and
unusual punishment as prohibited by the Eighth Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution.
Justice O'Connor also ruled there was insufficient evidence
that all persons with mental retardation lack the capacity to act
with the degree of culpability associated with the death penalty.
Justice Brennan argued that all persons with mental retardation,
by definition, have significant limitations on their intellectual
abilities and a reduced ability to function in society.
The Issue of Mental Retardation
Mental Retardation and Capital Trials
By virtue of their disability, people with mental
retardation are even less likely than other
defendants to be able to protect their legal rights
and to secure a fair trial. (www.deathpenaltyinfo.org)
– Waiver of Rights
– Knowing and Intellect
– Voluntariness
– False Confessions
The Issue of Mental Retardation
Defendants with Mental Retardation: Their
Stories
David Vasquez and his false confession
Limmie Aurthur
Luis Mata
The Issue of Mental Retardation
Atkins v. Virginia
Petitioner Atkins was convicted of capital murder and
related crimes by a Virginia jury and sentenced to death.
Affirming, the Virginia Supreme Court relied on Penry v.
Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302, in rejecting Atkins’ contention
that he could not be sentenced to death because he is
mentally retarded.
June 21, 2002, the Supreme Court had a historic 6-3
decision prohibiting the execution of mentally retarded
murderers.
With Justice Sandra Day O’Connor now firmly in the
anti-capital punishment camp (a 180-degree position
shift), Atkins v. Virginia continues the present day,
nationwide, multi-front assault against the death penalty.
Differences in the
Death Penalty in
the U.S. and
Abroad
by Jason Boothe
The Death Penalty in the U.S. and Abroad
Federal Death Penalty
– ―in any state or territory of the U.S.‖
– 1994 Omnibus Crime Bill increased the
number of crimes for the federal death
penalty to 60
– 2000 USDOJ Study Uncovered Geographic
Disparities
• 40% of federal death penalty cases filed by 93
U.S. Attorneys from 5 jurisdictions
– Puerto Rico, the Eastern District of Virginia, Maryland,
the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York
– June 2001 Execution of Timothy McVeigh
was 1st federal execution since 1963
The Death Penalty in the U.S. and Abroad
States’ Death Penalty
– Available for use in 38 states
– Not available in: Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont,
West Virginia, and Wisconsin as well as the District of
Columbia; Illinois Moratorium
[ Source: Massachusetts Citizens Against the Death Penalty www.mcadp.org ]
The Death Penalty in the U.S. and Abroad
Methods of Execution
Lethal Injection Firing Squad
Electrocution
Hanging
Lethal Gas
The Death Penalty in the U.S. and Abroad
Methods of Execution
As of July 1, 2003 and since 1976:
– Lethal Injection: 692
– Electrocution: 151
• Most Recent: Virginia 2003
– Lethal Gas: 11
• Most Recent: Arizona 1999
– Hanging: 3
• Most Recent: Delaware 1998
– Firing Squad: 3
• Most Recent: Utah 1996
The Death Penalty in the U.S. and Abroad
Minimum Age Variation
[ Source: CNN www.cnn.com ]
The Death Penalty in the U.S. and Abroad
Abolitionist vs. Retentionist Countries
– 78 Retentionist Countries, including the U.S.
• Of these 78, only 27 carried out more than 1 execution in
2000
• 90% were performed in only 4 countries: China, U.S., Iran,
and Saudi Arabia (90% of these in China)
– 79 Countries Have Abolished the Death Penalty for
All Crimes
– 15 Countries Have Abolished the Death Penalty for
Crimes Under Ordinary Circumstances (Absence of
War)
– 23 Countries are Abolitionist in Practice (not having
carried out an execution within the last 10 years)
– On average, more than 3 countries per year have
abolished the death penalty since 1976
The Death Penalty in the U.S. and Abroad
International Methods of Execution
– Lethal Injection: 5 countries, including the U.S.
– Firing Squads: 73 countries
– Hangings: 58 countries
– Stonings: 6 countries (Afghanistan?, Iran, Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and United Arab Emirates)
• Iranian Penal Code: ―In the punishment of stoning to death, the
stones should not be too large so that the person dies on being hit
by one or two of them; they should not be so small either that they
could not be defined as stones‖. Some observers note that stoning
is predominantly used for crimes of a sexual nature, and more
often than not, against women.
– Beheadings: 3 countries (Congo, Saudi Arabia, and
United Arab Emirates)
– Crucifixion: 1 country (Sudan)
The Death Penalty in the U.S. and Abroad
“The increasing use of the death penalty in the
United States and in a number of other states is
a matter of serious concern and runs counter to
the international community's expressed desire
for the abolition of the death penalty”
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson
Danger of increased isolation of the U.S. among
the countries of the world
Theory – Why does the U.S. still maintain the
death penalty? Can Marx provide any insight?