Death penalty Flashcards
What is considered the ultimate in-expressive acting out?
the death penalty
What year did the UK abolish the death penalty?
1965
What country is the only Western democracy with the death penalty?
The US
What other countries still have the death penalty?
- China
- Iran
- Saudi Arabia
- Iraq
- Pakistan
Where was the death penalty abolished?
European countries
What year was DP abolished in the Netherlands?
1860
What year was DP abolished in Norway?
1876
What year was DP abolished in Sweden?
1910
What year was DP abolished in the UK?
1964
What year was DP abolished in France?
1977
Why was DP abolished in european countries?
incompatible with the ECHR and EU membership
How many states in US retained death pentalty?
- 27/50
- plus federal and military
How many executions since 1976 in the US?
- 1583 executions
- 18 women (1%)
- 34% black
- 10% latino or other ethnic minority
- 75% white
What percentage of DP were executed by lethal injection in the US?
89%
What are the top 5 states for DP in the US since 1976?
- Texas: 586 (37%)
- Oklahoma: 123 (8%)
- Virginia: 113 (abolished in 2021)
- Florida: 105
- Missouri
How has the use of DP in the US declined from 1999 compared to 2023?
1999:
- 98 executions
- 279 sentences
2023:
- 24 deaths
- 21 sentences
How many people are now on death row in the US? What percent in California?
- 2,333 people on death row
- 29% in California
Furman v Georgia 1972 declared DP too severe if:
Too severe if:
- ‘degrading to human dignity’
- torture
- ‘obviously inflicted in wholly arbitrary fashion’
- capricious, discriminatory
- ‘clearly and totally rejected throughout society’
- ‘patently unnecssary’
Gregg v Georgia 1976: supreme court upheld revised statutes of DP such as:
- bifurcated sentencing process:
1. eligibility in principle
2. selection specifically: this offender - aggravating vs mitigating features
- requires system of appeals
Why does the US have exceptionalism to the DP?
- political and historical reasons for retention
- ‘not because of any peculiarly punitive attitudes or any deep-seated cultural commitment but because the political mechanisms for nation-wide abolition do not exist’ Garland 2005
How is the US culturally distinctive for having the DP?
- culture of violence and revenge: vigilante values and lynching
- cultural representation as simplistic good vs evil, leading to ‘closure’
- parallels with 2nd amendment
Populism: how are pro DP politicians reflecting public opinion?
- Appeal to Tough-on-Crime Rhetoric: strong, uncompromising language to address public concerns about crime rates and public safety
- emphasis on victims rights
What happened in 1988 with populism and the DP?
- ‘liberal’, ‘weak’ Dukakis supported furlough policy for rehabilitation
- disastrous final tv debate
What happened in 2020 with populism and the DP? and 2022?
- 2020: little discussed but Biden openly opposed to federal executions
- 2022: 3 gubernatorial elections won by candidates pledging not to sign death warrants
