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Literature Review Draft

Ramon Enriquez

English 1312

Ms. Falcon

Abstract

Since the United States adopted the death penalty as a punishment for dangerous criminals, there has been controversy on whether that application of such punishment contradicts the constitution and makes people question if capital punishment is morally right. As a result, many organizations have been created to eliminate the death penalty in the United States and in the world. This literature review analyzes the opinion of the people that are against capital punishment and the people who support it. It also analyzes specific cases and details about the death penalty.

Literature Review Draft

Since 1976 the United States government opted to follow British rule and legalize Capital Punishment to reduce delinquency in cities and to make sure criminals received a fair penalty. It was an idea brought into the country in order to spread fear and let people know what the consequences of wrong decisions are. Since the US adopted such punishment, there has been controversy on the issue. Some people think it is cruel and that in only promotes killing while others believe that the death penalty is effective and that it is accomplishing its purpose. To understand capital punishment some questions are going to be answered and analyzed.

• Is the application of capital punishment against the 8th amendment of cruel and unusual punishment?

• Does capital punishment deter crime?

• Has there ever been an innocent person wrongly executed?

• Is capital punishment more expensive than life imprisonment?

• Are there any controversial cases that have to do with the death penalty?

• Are there any organizations concerning the abolition of capital punishment?

Is the application of capital punishment against the 8th amendment of cruel and unusual punishment?

The U.S government claims that Capital punishment is “constitutional” because even thought people argue that this punishment goes against the 8th amendment concerning “cruel and unusual punishment” the methods used today such as lethal injection, are neither painful nor inhumane. The Supreme Court continues applying the death penalty because the definition of “cruel” means excessive pain or brutality; therefore it is not violating any amendment. But even though capital punishment is not cruel, it still falls under the category of “unusual” because is not normal for the government to take away the life of a person, therefore it is possible to say that capital punishment may be partially against the 8th amendment. However capital punishment is supported by the 5th amendment, which states that no one should be depraved of life, liberty or property without due process of law. This means that when creating the constitution there the chance for the creation of the death penalty on a legal way.

I created an online survey composed of three questions in order to determine the opinion of my community about capital punishment. They were asked whether they supported capital punishment and whether they would consider applying a different type of punishment.

Out of 53 people, 47.17% stated that they supported the death penalty as punishment for dangerous criminals. 35.85% of the people being asked were against the application of capital punishment on criminals, and the remaining 16.98% remains neutral, meaning they aren’t against or support such punishment.

The second question asked people of they would consider life imprisonment as punishment instead of the death penalty. Out of 53 people, 43.14% agreed on the punishment replacement and 25.49% did not agree on the punishment replacement and remained on supporting the death penalty. The remaining 33.33% don’t see capital punishment as the right type of punishment.

The third question listed the different methods of execution (hanging, electrocution, gas chamber, lethal injection and firing squad) and asked people to choose which method they think was more “inhumane” or cruel. The majority (30.19%) chose electrocution as the worst method of execution. Followed by this, 22.64% stated that “all” methods were cruel.

Does capital punishment deter crime?

Texas, the leading state in performing executions since 1930, has twice the murder rates of Wisconsin, a state that does not have death penalty. Statistics have also shown that those states that had the death penalty had an average murder rate of 7.1 per 100,000 population; those states, which do not execute people, had a homicide rate of 3.6. This statistics partially show that capital punishment does not deter crime, but later in 2006 another study claimed that every time a criminal was executed, 5 murders would be prevented and whenever an execution was canceled 5 murders future murders will take place. It was until 2012 when a study made by The National Research Council of the National Academies, which states that capital punishment does not increase nor decrease any murders, and that it still cannot be proven if it makes no difference. Some factors that led to this conclusion are that the previous studies are bases on assumptions taken from statistics that ma no be credible. Another is that the information created, such as charts and statistics being created are finished incompletely leaving more important information lost.

Has there ever been an innocent person executed?

Since 1973, 123 people in 25 states have been released from death row because they were not guilty(Amnesty International). But we as humans are not perfect, there may be some mistakes in the criminal justice system, so the government cannot say that there has never been an error. Seven people have been executed even though they were probably innocent. A study published in the Stanford Law Review documents 350 capital convictions in this century, in which it was later proven that the offender had not committed the crime. Of those, 25 convicts were executed while others spent many years of their lives in prison. Fifty-five of the 350 cases took place in the 1970s, and another 20 of them between l980 and l985.(Death Penalty Information)

The race of the victim and the race of the defendant in capital cases are major factors in determining who is sentenced to with the death penalty. In 1990 a report from the General Accounting Office stated that in 82 percent of capital cases, race of the victim was found to influence the probability of being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty.

Is capital punishment more expensive than life imprisonment?

There are many factors that influence the exact cost of each capital case. Some factors are costs for prosecuting and defense attorneys, interpreters, expert witnesses, court reporters, psychiatrists, secretaries, and jury consultants. Another problem is the length and difficulty of the process. Many cases last several years and can pass through three phases. The first phase is state trial court, state Supreme Court, and possible appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court. The second phase is the state “habeas corpus” (post conviction process) and appeals. The final phase is federal “habeas corpus”, which includes appeals to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and to the U.S. Supreme Court.

According to a 2008 study by the state's Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, the process costs an extra $90,000 per convict to imprison someone sentenced to death and an additional expense that totals more than $63.3 million annually. A report made by the judge Arthur Alarcon and Professor Paula Mitchel showed that in the state of California the cost of the death penalty has totaled over $4 billion since 1978. The sate spend $1.94 billion on Pre trial and trial costs, $925 million on automatic and state “habeas corpus petitions”, $775 million on federal “habeas corpus” appeals and $1 billion on costs of incarceration. In conclusion, taxpayers pay $90,000 more per death row each year than on prisoners in regular confinement. With this information the community can conclude that life imprisonment is cheaper than the death penalty.(Washington Post)

Are there any controversial cases that have to do with the death penalty?

There have been a couple of cases about death penalty that has given Texas a certain kind of reputation for example, the Karla Faye Tucker case. This case is significant because it is the first execution of a woman in Texas and in the whole nation. In 1984 Karla was convicted of murder and was executed in 1998. After her, ten other women have been executed. Another thing that makes Texas highlight over the other states is that it was the first state to carry out an execution by the method of “lethal injection.” Before lethal injection executions were done by either the electric chair, firing squad or by hanging. This method was applied to Charles brooks because of the assassination of a car salesman. One of the most controversial cases has been the one of Kelsey Patterson. Kelsey was diagnosed with mental illness and wasn’t even able to stand trial. The governor thought this person was too dangerous and proceeded to sentence him with the death penalty even though the law states that capital punishment cannot be enforced on mentally ill people.

Are there any organizations concerning the abolition of capital punishment?

Since the US adopted such punishment, there has been controversy the issue. Some people think it is cruel and others that it is effective. A group named “Amnesty International” founded in 1961 is currently working on the eradication of the Death penalty. Their purpose is to inform all the people that live in countries in which Capital Punishment is enforced. Amnesty International is led by the “International Executive Committee” which is composed by nine people that are elected by the International Council Meeting. The organization has more than three million supporters in more than 150 countries. They do research and create charts per year in which they show the amount of executions each country did. By comparing previous charts with new ones, they show the statistics of how much influence the organization has on the countries. Records demonstrated that only 21 out of 105 countries used capital punishment. Due to their hard work, Amnesty International successfully influenced Japan so no executions were perfumed in a year. Since 2003, each year an average of two countries have abolished the use of capital punishment for all crimes thanks to the organization.

Conclusion

When talking about capital punishment there is plenty of controversy whether to support it or go against it. There is always the issue of money and moral, whether if a solution is too expensive or unfair. Studies have shown that capital punishment is not changing society at all, it cannot be said that its deterrence effect works.

Citation

• White Paper On Ethical Issues Concerning Capital Punishment. (2012). World Medical Journal, 58(3), 82-87.

Link:

• Messerli, Joe. "Should the death penalty be banned as a form of punishment? ."  Balanced Politics. Joe Messerli, 21 Nov. 2009. Web. 12 Oct. 2010.

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• Mott, J. (n.d.). Is the death penalty constitutional?. Retrieved from

• Tanner , R. (2007). Studies say death penalty deters crime. the washington post, Retrieved from

• Patt, S. (2009). To execute or note? a question of cos.NBCNEWS, Retrieved from

sharp, D. (1997, October 1). Does the death penalty cost less than life imprisonment without parole?. Retrieved from

• "CLOSING DEATH ROW WOULD SAVE STATE $90 MILLION A YEAR", Sacramento Bee, Published on March 28, 1988,

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