Death+Penalty+&+Law

= = Death Penalty & Law

Tamara Francis Camilla Lightbourne Matthew Jacobs

Table of Contents

Definition of the Death Penalty & Laws History of the Death Penalty Recent Developments of the Death Penalty Death Penalty on Diverse Populations Types of Death Penalty

Definition of the Death Penalty   The death penalty which is sometimes called capital punishment is the killing of a person or persons who commit crimes that are considered severe by the government and state. Laws is defined as legal document setting forth rules governing a particular kind of activity.

History of the Death Penalty

The first death penalty law was established in the eighteenth century B.C. Death sentences in those day were carried out by means of beating to death, drowning, crucifixion, impalement and burning alive In the tenth century A.D some common executions were boiling, hanging, drawing and quartering, beheading and burning at the stake. Marrying a Jew, not confessing to a crime and treason were crimes that persons would be given the death penalty for. In the tenth century A.D hanging became the usual means of carrying out the death penalty in Britain; when they settled in the new world they brought the death penalty, as a result they influenced America’s use of the death penalty than any other country. The first recorded use of execution was Captain George Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608, where he was executed for being a spy for Spain. Offenses such as stealing grapes, trading with Indians or killing chickens were some other offenses that people were executed for.([])





Death Penalty and the 8th Amendment

The largest influence on the death penalty to date is the ever changing opinion on popular American standards and what is and is not considered illegal in accordance with the 8th Amendment. The 8th Amendment states "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted" also known as the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Law. Although at first glance this appears to be a clear cut definitive outlawing of death penalty, it's much more complicated than that.

Up until approximately 1972 death peantly was by large legal and was up to each state to enforce whether or not they wanted to carry death penalty laws and to what extent they would be enforced. In year 1972 there came an historic supreme court decision in Furman V. Georgia wherein it was ruled in a 5 to 4 decision that the death penalty was considered cruel and unusual behavior. This decision was brought largely by the way in which people were put to death at the time. One of the most influential methods of death penalty that brought about this decision was the often public hangings that could occur. In a key concurring opinion, justices said the randomness of being executed in the United States compared to "being struck by lightening." Most observers at the time concluded that there would never again be an execution in the United States. They were wrong. In 1976, in //Gregg v. Georgia//, the Court upheld Georgia's new capital-sentencing procedures, concluding that they had sufficiently reduced the problem of arbitrary and capricious imposition of death associated with earlier statutes The death penalty was illegal in the United States up until 1976 when a draft was proposed to the United States Supreme Court on specific exact guidelines on how people were to be executed. At this point it was determined exactly which methods of death penalty were deemed not cruel or unusual and thereby in accordance with the 8th amendment. ([])

American point of view changes substantially over periods of time, in sway with political, national, and economical strife. In this way it's very unpredictable to say exactly whether or not the death penalty is unlawful and that it will always be unlawful because opinions can change, but for the most part if the trends of the past continue we can predict that in the future the death penalty will be all but illegal and reserved for the most appalling crimes ([]).

Recent Developments of the Death Penalty

The Supreme Court  ruled in June 2008 that it was cruel and unjust to give someone charged with raping a minor the death penalty <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">, while in April they ruled that a lethal-injection procedure does not violate the <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">eighth Amendment <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> prohibitions against <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">cruel and unusual punishment <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">. An execution was not carried out in California because the physicians involved thought the procedure was inhumane. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Today over sixty percent of Americans support the death penalty. However, China is under severe international scrutiny because they still practice the use of the death penalty ( [] ).

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">Death Penalty on Diverse Populations

The Supreme Court in 1997 ordered that persons proven to be mentally retarded were to be exempt from the death penalty. The court stated that the death penalty constituted “cruel and unusual punishment” to this group. Ten percent of the death row inmates are considered mentally retarded. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The US Supreme Court on March 1, 2005 ordered that the death penalty for minors be abolished. Minors were subject to the death penalty before this law was passed. Under 2% of all death row inmates are women ([]) ([]). In a 1990 report, the non-partisan U.S. General Accounting Office found "a pattern of evidence indicating racial disparities in the charging, sentencing, and imposition of the death penalty." The study concluded that a defendant was several times more likely to be sentenced to death if the murder victim was white. This has been confirmed by the findings of many other studies that, holding all other factors constant, the single most reliable predictor of whether someone will be sentenced to death is the race of the victim. From initial charging decisions to plea bargaining to jury sentencing, African-Americans are treated more harshly when they are defendants, and their lives are accorded less value when they are victims. All-white or virtually all-white juries are still commonplace in many localities. =<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"> = =<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Type of Death Penalty =
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The Mentally Retarded **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Minors **
 * Women**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Racial Differences **
 * A report sponsored by the American Bar Association in 2007 concluded that one-third of African-American death row inmates in Philadelphia would have received sentences of life imprisonment if they had not been African-American.
 * A January 2003 study released by the University of Maryland concluded that race and geography are major factors in death penalty decisions. Specifically, prosecutors are more likely to seek a death sentence when the race of the victim is white and are less likely to seek a death sentence when the victim is African-American.
 * A 2007 study of death sentences in Connecticut conducted by Yale University School of Law revealed that African-American defendants receive the death penalty at three times the rate of white defendants in cases where the victims are white. In addition, killers of white victims are treated more severely than people who kill minorities, when it comes to deciding what charges to bring ([]).

There are several other types of death penalties, below are some of the different types. Some of them are not used in the Unites States but it there are some that are used in other countries.

1. Lethal injection - This is the most prevalent form of capital punishment in the United States today, but this does not necessarily mean that it's the most civilized.



In 1982, the United States became the first country on Earth to perform executions by lethal injection as a means of capital punishment. China became the second in 1997, and several other countries have since followed suit. Lethal injection is by far the most common type of execution in the United States--all executions in 2005, and all but one execution each in 2004 and 2006, were by lethal injection ([]). <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">2. Gas chambers Executions- Despite its history, the gas chamber was advertised as an efficient and humane form of execution. At least it seemed that way to the observers.

The infamous lime green gas chamber at San Quentin, where all of California's death sentences are carried out. Today the room is used for lethal injections; California abolished execution by poison gas in 1995 ([]). <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;"> 3. The Electric Chair Execution - No form of execution has captured the American popular imagination like the electric chair.



The electric chair is a quintessentially American invention. No less a figure than Thomas Edison petitioned for its first use, though his motives for doing so were less than pure. The world's first execution by electrocution took place in 1890, and it remained the most common form of execution until the 1980s. (<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[] ).

4. Firing Squad Executions - Typically associated with the military, the firing squad is one of the least expensive forms of execution--and, if performed correctly, one of the most humane



Executions by firing squad date as far back as firearms themselves, but only two people have been executed by firing squad in the United States in recent years (in 1977 and 1996 respectively). It remains an option for death row prisoners in Idaho, Oklahoma, and Utah. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[]

5. Death by hanging - Although death by hanging is a very old form of punishment, it evokes cultural memories of Southern lynchings and Wild West "frontier justice."



Hanging is one of the most ancient forms of execution. Although most states have abolished this practice, New Hampshire and Washington still allow prisoners to choose this option. The most recent legal U.S. hanging took place in 1996. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[]

6. Death by stoning - Stoning stands apart from other forms of capital punishment in that the entire community participates in the killing.



Stoning is arguably the world's oldest form of execution. It is as old as written literature, and the most common death penalty described in the Bible (prompting Jesus' famous anti-death penalty statement in John 8.7: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone"). Although it has never been a legal form of execution in the United States, it is practiced elsewhere in the world, primarily in the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[]

7. Death by Beheading - Execution by beheading, whether it is carried out by sword or guillotine, is one of the most gruesome forms of capital punishment. At least it's usually quick.



Beheading was probably the most humane form of punishment available in the ancient world, with the possible exception of the administration of poison. Although it has never been a legal form of execution in the United States, it is practiced elsewhere. Most notably, it remains the preferred method of execution in Saudi Arabia. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[]

8. Death by Crucifixion - Whether performed by Romans at Golgotha or by U.S. personnel at Abu Ghraib, crucifixion is one of the slowest, most torturous forms of execution ever devised ([]). <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">



Crucifixion was most common in ancient Rome. Although it has never been legal in the United States, it is worth noting that a CIA interrogator killed Manadel al-Jamadi in Abu Ghraib Prison in 2003 by crucifixion. The only country to practice crucifixion as an official form of capital punishment is the Sudan ([]). <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">

References <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Introduction to the Death Penalty. Retrieved December 10, 2009, from []

Death Penalty. Retrieved December 10, 2009, from []

The Legality of the Death Penalty and the Supreme Court. Retrieved December 10, 2009, from []

Facts about the Death Penalty. Retrieved December 10, 2009, from []

The Death Penalty. Retrieved December 10, 2009, from []

Death Penalty and <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Race. Retrieved December 10, 2009, from <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[]

Death by Crucifixion. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Retrieved December 10, 2009, from  <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[]