introduction to corrections: chapter fourteen (death row and the death penalty)

death penalty

the most extreme punishment a state or the federal government can sentence an offender to

Furman v Georgia

the court held that capital punishment itself was constitutional, but that the methods of its use violated the eighth amendment prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment; suspended the imposition of US death sentences for several years

Gregg v Georgia

the court required that there must be a separate hearing by a judge or jury covering the finding of guilt or innocence and then a later hearing in which aggravating and mitigating circumstances were considered before the death sentence could be imposed; the death penalty was reinstated

Louisiana ex rel Francis v Resweber

the court held that it was neither double jeopardy nor cruel and unusual treatment to subject inmates who had not died during an (initial) execution to be administered a second electrocution

double jeopardy

subjecting a person to a second trial or punishment for the same offense for which a person already had been tried or punished

Atkins v Virginia

the court held that putting the developmentally disabled to death constituted cruel and unusual punishment

Roper v Simmons

held that usage of the death penalty for persons who committed their crimes before the age of eighteen violated both the eighth and fourteenth amendments of the US Constitution (Malvo)

McCleskey v Kemp

reviewed whether the death penalty was being applied in a racially discriminatory manner

lethal injection

gives the appearance of a medical procedure wherein an inmate is strapped down on a furney and administered a cocktail of three drugs

sodium thiopental

anesthetizes the inmate; midazolam used as a replacement

pancuronium bromide

paralyzes the inmate which ultimately stops their breathing

potassium chloride

stops the inmate’s heart

exoneration

to be cleared on an accusation and freed from blame/guilt before a criminal conviction or following the overturning a conviction and the vacating of a sentence