Criminal Justice

Criminal Justice Intro Exam 3 Study Guide

Capital Punishment- The Ultimate Sentence:

* Capital punishment- the use of the death penalty to punish wrongdoers for certain crimes

* Only 23 countries still employ the death penalty and the US is the only western democracy that continues the practice

Methods of Execution:

* In the early years they adopted drawing, quartering, and boiling the convict alive but by the 19th century these were replaced by hanging. In the 1890’s the electric chair was introduced and was the primary way of execution until 1977 when lethal injection was adopted. The firing squad is also occasionally used

The Death Penalty and the Supreme Court:

* 1890, William Kemmler challenged his death sentence saying it violated his 8th amendment rights. The Supreme Court rejected his appeal.

* In Weems v. United States (1910) the court set forth 3 important precedents concerning sentencing.

* In 2008, in Baze v. Rees the Court ruled that the mere possibility of pain does not establish the sort of objectivity intolerable risk of harm that qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment- referring to lethal injection

Reforming the Death Penalty:

* In Furman v. Georgia in 1972 the death penalty was outlawed until 1976

* The Court said that the way the states administered the death penalty was unconstitutional and stabled a bifurcated process

* Insanity, Mental Handicap and Age are all mitigating circumstances for the death penalty

Debating the Sentence of Death:

* Does is actually deter crime?

* Does the amount of wrongful deaths negate the death penalty?

Discriminatory Effect and the Death Penalty:

* Blacks are more likely to be sent to prison and put on death row

The Immediate Future of the Death Penalty:

* The Death Penalty has been declining more and more over the years

* Public support for the death penalty has also been dropping since the 1990’s

Establishing Probable Cause:

The...