PSYC 162 Week 11 (lec. 27 & 28)

The Death Penalty (Capital Punishment)

Basic Capital Punishment Statistics (U.S.)

  • 27 U.S. states have the death penalty

  • But 5 states are responsible for 64% of all U.S. executions since 1976: TX, VA, OK, FL, MO

  • Texas alone accounts for more than 38%

  • At beginning of 2022, there were 2,436 prisoners on death row

  • Capital punishment was suspended by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972, but it was reinstated in 1976, society got tougher on crime

  • US is number 1 in putting people in prison

Methods of Execution

  • Electric chair

    • For execution by the electric chair, the person is usually shaved and strapped to a chair with belts that cross the chest, groin, legs, and arms. A metal skullcap- shaped electrode is attached to the scalp and forehead over a sponge moistened with saline. A jolt of between 500 and 2000 volts, which lasts for about 30 seconds, is given.

    • The current surges and is then turned off, at which time the body is seen to relax. The doctors wait a few seconds for the body to cool down and then check to see if the inmate's heart is still beating.

  • Hanging

    • The neck is broken, and death comes quickly unless the free fall distance is inadequate.

    • This was used in the UK for many years

  • Firing squad

    • A black hood is pulled over the prisoner's head. A doctor locates the inmate's heart with a stethoscope and pins a circular white cloth target over it. The prisoner is shot through the heart by multiple marksmen. Death is almost immediate

  • Gas Chamber

    • The condemned person is strapped to a chair in an airtight chamber. Once everyone has left the chamber, the room is sealed. The warden then gives a signal to the executioner who releases hydrogen cyanide (or nitrogen) gas.

    • The prisoner is instructed to breathe deeply to speed up the process.

  • Lethal injection

    • Lethal drugs are injected into the prisoner who is strapped to a table.

    • Many people consider this the most humane way as it looks as if the person is going to sleep – this may not be the case.

    • The first drug paralyses all of the prisoner’s muscles, any pain that might be experienced would not be visible to an observer

    • Controversial if it hurts or not

    • The most common one

Gallup Polls

  • In the 60s people’s ideas were changing, leaning towards wanting the death penalty

  • Now about 60 to 40 in favor

  • More democratic states are less in favor

  • Men favor it more than women

  • Not much of an age effect

    • Every group is slightly more in favor of the death penalty

  • Gender and racial disparities in the criminal justice system

    • More men likely to go to prison

    • Black man probably less in favor of the death penalty because they’re more likely to go to prison than a white man

    • Demographics of Death Row (as of April, 2022)

      • White: 1026

      • Black: 987 (nowhere near population so they’re over represented)

      • Latino: 335

      • Native American: 24

      • Asian: 46

      • Women: 50

  • Appeals taking so long

  • Courts being opened

  • Executions in US have been going back down after 2000 → people fighting against death penalty

  • We’ve been in a downward trend

  • In 1990s crime was giung down

Research on Capital Murder Trials

  • Death qualification of jurors

    • During voir dire jurors asked if they can vote for the death penalty as result of guilty plea

      • Morgan v. Illinois (1992): Substantially impaired jurors excused

      • Lockhart v. McCree (1986): Research on death qualification reviewed and dismissed

    • Death qualified jurors more likely to convict

Ethical Issues in Competency for Execution (CFE)

  • You have to be competent to be executed

  • Unconstitutional to execute mentally incompetent inmate sentenced to die

  • Condemned prisoner must have rational understanding of execution reason

  • More specifically: prisoner’s ability to rationally understand connection between their crime and approaching execution

  • They should be able to understand why they’re being executed

Juveniles and the Death Penalty

  • The United States Supreme Court prohibits execution for crimes committed at the age of fifteen or younger.

  • Nineteen states have laws permitting the execution of persons who committed crimes at sixteen or seventeen.

  • Since 1973, 226 juvenile death sentences have been imposed.

  • To date, 22 juvenile offenders have been executed and 82 remain on death row.

  • Executed when they’re no longer juveniles

Should We Execute the Elderly?

  • Most inmates die of natural causes on death row before they are sent to the execution chamber

  • People more likely to die on death row than by execution because of long delays

  • Long delays due to appeal process in capital cases

  • Graying of death row inmates presents legal and ethical challenges

  • Is it cruel to keep someone under threat of death for extended period of time (often with long periods of solitary confinement)?

  • Are aging and disability relevant in consideration of commuting a death sentence?

The Case of Ray Krone

  • Death row sentenced people about 5% of them are innocent, smaller percentage of those who are actually executed and are innocent

  • Bitemark evidence got him convicted of sexually assaulting and kidnapping a women

  • He was sentenced to death and then he got a retrial → found guilty

  • Then they found DNA evidence of some other guy and he was exonerated

Arson Detection

  • Trained experts sift through the debris after a fire to determine how it was caused

  • Sometimes, they conclude it was arson

  • How accurate are these experts?

  • They’re not that good at this

The Case of Cameron Todd Willingham

  • Thought he set the fire killing his 3 daughters, but he was the only one who survived

  • Think he executed him while he was innocent

  • They have found no evidence of arson anymore

  • He was charged for other things like beating his wife when she was pregnant

  • Lab tests found lighter fluid

  • Guy still thinks he was guilty and it wasn’t an accident

  • Other guy thinks it was a typical fire

  • They think that he worshipped satan cus he liked heavy metal

  • He never confessed to killing his children

  • John Jackson still stand by his case