The Death Penalty America's Experience with Capital Punishment

by Paternoster, Raymond; Brame, Robert; Bacon, Sarah

• ISBN13: 9780195332421
• ISBN10: 0195332423
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-07-02
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book addresses one of the most controversial issues in the criminal justice system today--the death penalty. Paternoster et al. present a balanced perspective that focuses on both the arguments for and against capital punishment. Coverage draws on legal, historical, philosophical, economic, sociological, and religious points of view. Topics include: * The history of the death penalty in the United States, from the 1600s to today * The changing nature of the death penalty--changes in the types of crimes that warranted the penalty, the procedures employed to put capital offenders on trial, and the methods used to impose death * Constitutional/legal issues surrounding the death penalty * The influence of race on the administration of the death penalty, both in the past and in the present * Justifications for and against the death penalty (retribution, cost, public safety, and religious arguments) * Questions about the execution of innocents, exonerated capital offenders, and flaws in the operation of the death penalty * Public opinion and the death penalty * The death penalty and international law and practice * The future of the death penalty in America

Author Biography

Raymond Paternoster is Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice and Director of the Office of Academic Computing Services at the University of Maryland.
Robert Brame is Associate Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of South Carolina.
Sarah Bacon is Visiting Assistant Professor in the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. x
Foreword	p. xiii
The Enduring Legacy of Capital Punishment in the United States
Introduction	p. 2
Capital Punishment in the Early Period: 1608-1929	p. 5
Capital Crimes and Capital Statutes in the Early Period	p. 5
Characteristics of Executions in the Early Period	p. 8
Changes in the Practice of the Death Penalty in the Early Period	p. 9
Methods of Execution in the Early Period	p. 12
Location of the Death Penalty in the Early Period	p. 20
Chapter Summary	p. 22
Discussion Questions	p. 23
Student Resources	p. 24
Endnotes	p. 24
Capital Punishment in the Premodern Period: 1930-1967	p. 27
Capital Crimes and Capital Statutes in the Premodern Period	p. 27
Characteristics of Executions in the Premodern Period	p. 29
Methods of Execution in the Premodern Period	p. 31
Location of the Death Penalty in the Premodern Period	p. 35
Chapter Summary	p. 37
Discussion Questions	p. 38
Student Resources	p. 39
Endnotes	p. 39
Capital Punishment in the Modern Period: 1976-Present	p. 40
Capital Crimes and Capital Statutes in the Modern Period	p. 41
Characteristics of Executions in the Modern Period	p. 45
Methods of Execution in the Modern Period	p. 53
Location of the Death Penalty in the Modern Period	p. 59
Changes in the Practice of the Death Penalty in the Modern Period	p. 64
The Federal and Military Death Penalty	p. 67
Chapter Summary	p. 69
Discussion Questions	p. 71
Student Resources	p. 71
Endnote	p. 72
Legal History, Constitutional Requirements, and Common Justifications for Capital Punishment in the United States
Introduction	p. 74
A Brief Legal History of Capital Punishment in the United States	p. 76
Early Constitutional Challenges to the Method of Imposing Death	p. 76
Constitutional Theories About What the Eighth Amendment Prohibits	p. 79
A Definition of 'Cruel and Unusual'	p. 80
The Death Penalty's Decline in Popularity and Challenges to Its Constitutionality-The Prelude to McGautha v. California	p. 82
The Death Penalty Is Not Procedurally Flawed-The Case of McGautha v. California	p. 85
The Death Penalty as Currently Administered Is So Procedurally Flawed That It Constitutes 'Cruel and Unusual Punishment'-The Case of Furman v. Georgia	p. 89
Chapter Summary	p. 95
Discussion Questions	p. 95
Student Resources	p. 96
Endnotes	p. 96
Constitutional Requirements for Capital Punishment in the United States	p. 98
The Response to Furman: Mandatory and Guided Discretion Capital Statutes	p. 99
The Execution of Special Groups-The Retarded, the Young, and the Mentally Ill	p. 108
The Death Penalty for the Mentally Retarded	p. 109
The Death Penalty for Juveniles	p. 112
The Death Penalty for the Mentally Ill	p. 115
Chapter Summary	p. 117
Discussion Questions	p. 118
Student Resources	p. 119
Endnotes	p. 119
Common Justifications for the Death Penalty	p. 121
Retribution: The Moral Argument for the Death Penalty	p. 121
Kantian Retribution	p. 122
Berns' Argument	p. 125
Van den Haag's Argument	p. 126
Other Retributivist Views	p. 127
Some Examples	p. 130
Cost: The Financial Argument for the Death Penalty	p. 131
Incapacitation: One of the Public Safety Arguments for the Death Penalty	p. 133
General Deterrence: The Other Public Safety Argument for the Death Penalty	p. 138
Sellin's Research	p. 138
Ehrlich's Strategy	p. 140
Other Researchers	p. 142
Religious Positions For and Against the Death Penalty	p. 148
Chapter Summary	p. 153
Discussion Questions	p. 153
Student Resources	p. 154
Endnotes	p. 155
The Administration of the Death Penalty: Issues of Race and Human Fallability
Introduction	p. 158
Race, the Law, and Punishment	p. 160
The Peculiar Institution	p. 160
The Slave Codes	p. 162
Criminal Codes	p. 164
Race and Legal Institutions After the Civil War	p. 166
The Black Codes	p. 167
Radical Reconstruction	p. 169
Jim Crow Laws	p. 172
Disenfranchisement	p. 173
Violence Against Blacks	p. 175
Chapter Summary	p. 181
Discussion Questions	p. 182
Student Resources	p. 182
Endnotes	p. 183
Race and Capital Punishment	p. 184
Race and Capital Punishment: 1930-1967	p. 184
The Indictment and Charging Decision	p. 187
The Conviction and Sentencing Decision	p. 189
The Commutation Decision	p. 193
Evidence of Racially Disparate Treatment in the Courts	p. 196
Race and Capital Punishment, 1976 to the Present	p. 199
The Indictment and Charging Decision	p. 199
The Conviction and Sentencing Decision	p. 204
Post-Furman Evidence of Racial Discrimination in Capital Sentencing Before the Courts-McCleskey v. Kemp	p. 209
Chapter Summary	p. 212
Discussion Questions	p. 212
Student Resources	p. 213
Endnotes	p. 214
Problems in Administering the Death Penalty	p. 215
The Possibly Innocent	p. 216
The Carlos DeLuna Case	p. 218
The Joseph O'Dell Case	p. 220
The Gary Graham Case	p. 221
The Exonerated	p. 224
Gary Gauger	p. 224
Anthony Porter	p. 225
Frank Lee Smith	p. 226
Kirk Bloodsworth	p. 227
Rolando Cruz	p. 228
Ryan Matthews	p. 230
A 'Broken System'	p. 230
Ineffective or Incompetent Defense Counsel	p. 231
Prosecutor and Law Enforcement Misconduct	p. 239
Jail House Snitches and 'Junk Science'	p. 244
Chapter Summary	p. 252
Discussion Questions	p. 252
Student Resources	p. 253
Endnotes	p. 254
What's to Come of the Death Penalty
Introduction	p. 258
Capital Punishment in America's Future	p. 259
Public Support for the Death Penalty in the United States	p. 259
The Death Penalty in Other Countries	p. 266
Predictions About the Future of the Death Penalty in America	p. 272
What About Life Without the Possibility of Parole?	p. 277
Chapter Summary	p. 278
Discussion Questions	p. 279
Student Resources	p. 279
Endnotes	p. 280
About the Authors	p. 281
References	p. 282
Case Index	p. 296
Name Index	p. 297
Subject Index	p. 301
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