What aspects of the stages in a capital case are designed to protect the rights of the accused? Do you believe that this system is sufficient to guarantee that only the guilty are convicted?
For one, even though each state goes through a seperate judgment of the accused, each trial is conducted in the same fashion. This protects the rights of the accused effectively and I believe helps to prevent any sorts of premeditated bias. Also, and a very important part, is that each juror on the case is rigorously examined. Each juror must prove to be, “death qualified,” i.e., questioned about their ability to consider both aggravating and mitigating evidence and to render a death sentence in an appropriate case. This is extremely important to the overall fairness of the trial and the overall right conservation of the accused. Finally, some states allow for clemency in which after a trial has been completed and the accused has been punished the state's governor or the President can reduce the penalties of the accused. Clearly it is not sufficient to gaurantee that only the guilty are convicted because innocent men have been put on death row and innocent men have been executed.
Which of these (if any) are the most humane? Should any be considered “cruel and unusual” according to the 8th Amendment? If so which? Why?
It is very hard to call any humane but I would have to argue that the lethal injection strategy would make the most sense. What I like about this strategy is that it is not up to one person to execute the accused. This is similiar to the firing range. The conscious of killing a fellow man is not thrown upon one person and pushed onto the remainder of their lives. This is similiar with the firing squad, but withe the firing squad I really do not think it is okay that the chance for a slow, painful death is extremely eminent. The chance of missing the heart and hitting a different vital organ or really anything si very large. "Bleeding to death slowly," does not seem to be an "ethical" way to kill a human being. Though the gas chamber method was ruled Cruel and Unusual Punishment as of March 3, 1999, I believe that all of these methods are both cruel and unusual. The death penalty should be simply letting someone die, because everybody dies eventually. So let him sit in a room alone with his haunting thoughts until he stops breathing, that is closer to justice.
What sorts of conclusions can you draw from this data? What does the state by state data tell us about how the death penalty is used? What regional or other trends do you see? What might this data tell us about issues of equality, arbitrariness,and justice?
The first conclusion drawn from this data is a general and simple one, but often overlooked, the majority of states supports the death penalty. This is against my belief, and it is a bit disappointing for me to see that my view is clearly in the minority. Another interesting set of data is that the majority of sentenced death row prisoners are black. This is where the conversation gets touchy because we do not want to be called racists, which I pride myself on not being, but this is still interesting. I think that racism will always exist, and there is virtually nothing we can do to eliminate it completely. So yes, I would have to feel that there is some sort of racism in the justice system, there must be. Along with this idea is the male versus female ratio. Significantly more men are sentenced to the death penalty, but I think that this is just human nature. Men have violent tendencies that many women do not. Then again there are many women sentenced to the death penalty which turn that whole question around entirely. One interesting thing I noticed is how the sentences are distributed generally across the nation. Each coast is heavy with sentences but the center of the land does not seem to be nearly as heavy. Im not completely sure what to make of this but it strikes me as intriguing.
How many aggravating factors are listed that might have led to the death penalty? What do you think of them? ? Should the crimes listed have death as a potential punishment? Why or why not? Go to the state by state data and click on Illinois to see more about the current status of the death penalty in Illinois. Does the data tell you anything about why the Illinois death penalty is no longer in effect? If not, make an inference.
There are 21 aggravating factors that are listed in the statute. Some of them are a little bit out there and ridiculous but I believe they are necessary in solidifying the fairness and justice of the death penalty. No crime should have death as the penalty though. To me it is not right, and it is even a bit medieval. It is not the right way to deal with society's problems and it is a waste of a human life.
The website does not tell why Illinois has stopped with the death penalty I would have to infer that it is because 20 innocent persons have been freed from death row in the past. This is troubling to think that that many people could be falsely sentenced to death, gosh.
How does the information here influence your previous responses? What does this data say about the economics of the death penalty? What does the data say about the influence of race on the death penalty? What does the data say about public opinion for the death penalty? What does the data say about innocence? About deterrence? Looking at the information overall, what point of view would you say that the Death Penalty Information center has? Is it convincing? Why or why not? What additional information would you like?
The death penalty is not an economically sound way of conducting justice. Millions of dollars are put into cases and that is simply ridiculous to me. The data regarding race actually contradicts some of popular belief. More whites have been executed, and more whites are sentenced to death currently, this is intriguing. This seems to be a punch to the gut against any racist against blacks. The most striking part is the first graph, showing the generally steady decline of executions. This proves the overall decrease in approval and actually going through with the executions. Only 33% of the population said that the death penalty was the best way to eliminate crime, which I am glad to see. It is refreshing to see how many people share a similar view to mine, though it may not be exactly the same that is okay. Going back to the issue of innocence, this data claims that 130 inmates have been pardoned from execution due to being innocent. This is the part that is hard for me to grasp. I just cant imagine being on the cusp of death, saying my goodbyes and then being told im pardoned. Its not fair. I think overall this website has a pretty negative and critical view on the death penalty. To me it is extremely convincing and all of the charts make perfect sense, but that may just be my bias. I would like to see more public surveys and collected information regarding the overall opinion of the country on the death penalty. I have seen which states support it but I want to know about the average Joe and how it strikes him.
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