Death Penalty and Wrongful Convictions

Flashcards about the death penalty, covering definition, public opinion, reasons for and against, deterrence, executions, legal landmarks, and related factors.

Death Penalty

A government-sanctioned practice whereby a person is killed by the state as a punishment for a crime; also known as Capital Punishment.

Capital Punishment

Synonym for the death penalty, referring to a government-sanctioned execution as punishment for a crime.

Public Opinion on Death Penalty Alternatives (2019 Gallup Poll)

60% of voters would choose a punishment other than the death penalty for murder, such as life without parole.

Gallup Poll: Americans' Support for Death Penalty

Shows decreasing support for the death penalty over time, particularly among younger generations.

Reasons for Favoring the Death Penalty (2014, 2003, 2001, 1991)

Include 'an eye for an eye,' saving taxpayer money, believing offenders deserve it, deterrent effect, and serving justice. (per Gallup Poll)

Reasons for Opposing the Death Penalty (2014, 2003, 1991)

Include belief that it's wrong to take a life, risk of wrongly convicting innocent people, religious beliefs, and arguments that it doesn't deter crime. (per Gallup Poll)

Deterrent Effect of the Death Penalty

Mixed opinions; surveys from 1985-2011 show varying beliefs on whether the death penalty deters murder.

• but it usually doesn’t due to the amount of time people on death row stay incarcerated before execution, leading to questions about its efficacy.

Furman v. Georgia (1972)

Ruled the death penalty unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment if imposed arbitrarily or capriciously, leading to discriminatory results.

5-4 decision – Each justice in the majority wrote his own opinion

• Basis of the decision was excessive arbitrariness (i.e. race, failure of states to condemn only the worst criminals, infrequently of application, geographic randomness)

Post-Furman Death Penalty Laws

• In the 4 years after Furman, 35 states passed new death penalty laws.

• 7 states made the death penalty mandatory for murder

• Some states, including Georgia attempted to make the process less arbitrary by:

  • requiring jurors to find aggravating factors

  • having bifurcated trials

  • by guaranteeing appellate review

Aggravating Factors

Circumstances that increase the severity of a crime, influencing sentencing decisions.

• such as torture, excessive violence, or premeditation

Mitigating Factors

Circumstances that minimize or explain the actions of the offender or the crime.

Gregg v. Georgia (1976)

Upheld Georgia’s discretionary capital punishment law, stating that a non-arbitrary death penalty satisfies the constitution.

• a 7-2 decision

Woodson v. North Carolina (1976)

Struck down mandatory death penalty statutes.

• a 5-4 decision

Death Penalty Status - 2025

As of 2025: 23 states have no death penalty, 27 have the death penalty, and 4 have a pause on executions by executive action.

How does a moratorium on the death penalty work legally?

its a temporary suspension of executions, allowing time for review or policy changes, even while the death penalty law remains in place. It's essentially a pause button on executions, not a permanent abolition.

Methods of Execution (2022)

Lethal injection is the primary method, with some states also allowing electrocution, lethal gas, hanging or firing squad.

Race of Defendants Executed

White: 55.8%, Black: 34.0%, Latino/a: 8.3%, Other: 1.9%

Race of Victims in Death Penalty Cases

White: 75%, Black: 16%, Latino/a: 7%, Other: 2%

Women on Death Row (March 2024)

52 women, constituting 2.12% of the total death row population; 18 women have been executed since 1976.

Atkins v. Virginia (2002)

Ruled it unconstitutional to execute defendants with 'mental retardation.'

Roper v. Simmons (2005)

Struck down the death penalty for juveniles.

• since 1976, 22 defendants had been executed for offenses committed as juveniles.

Executing Countries in 2023

China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, USA, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Bangladesh, North Korea, Syria, and Vietnam

Deterrence and the Death Penalty (NRC)

Research is inconclusive; the National Research Council states studies are too flawed to determine if the death penalty deters or increases homicide rates.

• the committee recommends that these studies not be used to inform deliberations requiring judgements about the effect of the death penalty on homicide.

Bonus: Death Penalty Equation

• it is meant to try and isolate the cause and effect of the murder rate

• trying to isolate the unique effect of executions on murder, but also trying to control for other variables such as execution rate, unemployment rate, poverty rate, police presence, and error rates (everything else that effects the murder rate but is not included in the equation such as education, social trust, and gun laws.)

Three Core Problems in Existing Research

1. Failure to Specify the Full Sanction Regime.

   • Studies ignore what happens to murderers who are NOT executed (e.g., receive life without parole)

2. Unrealistic Assumptions About Offender Perceptions.

   • Many studies assume offenders know the ACTUAL probability of execution. Or they make rational decisions based on that probability.

3. Strong, Unverifiable Statistical Assumptions

   • Researchers use models that assume:

     • Random assignment of the death penalty policy across states

     • homogeneity across jurisdictions

     • Perfect measurement of key variables.

Challenges to proving deterrence

For deterrence to work:

• People must KNOW the death penalty is likely,

• BELIEVE they'll be caught & executed

• They must WEIGH the consequences before committing murder

In reality:

• Only 15% of those sentenced to death are actually executed

• it can take over a decade for execution to happen

• many homicides are impulsive, emotionally driven, or committed under duress—not rational calculations

Donohue & Wolfers: Uses and Abuses of Empirical Evidence in the Death Penalty Debate

Discusses uses and abuses of empirical evidence in the death penalty debate.

NYC Homicides vs. Yankee Championships

An example of correlation not causation; homicide rates show no direct relationship with Yankee championships.

Illinois Moratorium

Homicide rates did not increase after the state put a moratorium on the death penalty.

Hong Kong & Singapore Homicide Rates - Zimring, Fagan, Johnson

By comparing the two closely matched places with high contrasts in actual execution but no differences in homicide trends, we have generated a unique test of the exuberant claims of deterrence that have been produced over the past decade in the US.

• Singapore implemented a policy of frequent executions during the mid-1990s but subsequently reduced its use of capital punishment.

• In contrast, Hong Kong had not conducted any executions for decades and formally abolished the death penalty in 1993.

• Despite these divergent policies, both cities experienced notable declines in homicide rates.

• The evidence provides no indication that the increase in executions in Singapore contributed to a reduction in murders.

• Similarly, there is no evidence that the abolition of the death penalty in Hong Kong led to a rise in homicide rates.

The Cost of Capital Punishment

• Captial punishment might cost less

  • dont have to house the prisoner for remainder of natural life

  • medical care costs can be very high for elderly prisoners

• Capital punishment might cost more

  • Super due process

  • cost of death row

  • can get the costs without the benefits

Roman, Chalfin & Knight on Reassessing the Cost of the Death Penalty using quasi-experimental methods: evidence from maryland

Determined that in Maryland, death penalty cases cost about $1,000,000 more per case than non-death penalty cases.

• but maryland houses its offenders on death row and rarely executes them

• answer might be different in texas

Gross et al. on False Convictions

• Researchers: a team of legal experts and statisticians from Michigan and Upenn

• Method: With data on death row exonerations, they use survival analysis to estimate the overall rate of false conviction among death sentences

  • they estimate the proportion of individuals who WOULD be exonerated if all death-sentenced defendants remained under sentence of death indefinitely.

  • they usually do not stay in death sentence for various reasons

• Results: Estimated that at least 4.1% of all defendants sentenced to death in the US in the modern era are innocent.

  • The single larget group of innocent death row inmates are neither exonerated and released nor executed. They are left in limbo, somewhere in between those two extremes

What happens to death-sentenced defendants?

Between 1973-2004

Proportion of all cases

• 46.1 percent of death-sentenced defendants were still on death row

• 35.8 percent were removed from death row but not exonerated

• 12.6 percent were executed

• 4 percent died on death row but were not executed

Time on death row

• Those executed spent an average of 10.7 years on death row before execution.

• Those still on death row spent an average of 10.5 years still on death row

Common reasons for wrongful convictions

Inaccuracy of eyewitnesses, limited DNA availability, faulty forensic science, ineffective defense representation, police misconduct(false confessions)

Bedau & Radelet on Miscarriages of Justice in potentially capital cases

Charles Black identified three sorts of error- 1 mistake of law and two tupes of mistake of fact.

Causes of Wrongful Convictions- EJI

Thousands of people have been wrongly convicted across the country in a system defined by official indifference to innocence adn error

Years people have been wrongly convicted since 1989- EJI

27,200 years exonerated people have spent in prison for crimes they did not commit.

375 people exonerated through DNA evidence

National Institute of Jusitce: Wrongful Convictions

estimates suggest that 4-5% of all convictions may be wrongful

Exonerated Five(Central Park Five) 1989

Five teenagers wrongly convicted of the attack on a female jogger in Central Park.

• no DNA matches

• no eyewitnesses placing them at the scene

• the confessions were uses as the main evidence

• in 1990, all five were convicted

  • sentences ranged from 5-15 years in prison

  • kore wise, through only 16, was tried as an adult and served time in adult prisons, including rikers island

• brought about New Yorks raise the age legislation that changed the age that a child can be prosecuted as an adult to 18.

In 2002, Matias Reyes, a convicted rapist and murderer already in prison, confessed to the crime

• DNA evidence confirmed his guilt

• his story matched details never made public

• the manhattans DA’s office reopened the case, and in 2002, the convictions were vacated

• in 2014, NYC settled a civil rights lawsuit:

  • 41$ million paid to the exonerated 5

Donald Trump- Bring Back the Death Penalty

In 1989, Donald Trump publishes a full page ad that stated, "BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY AND BRING BACK THE POLICE!"