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Gender and Ethinicity all executed persons were male. None if them was female. Also 14 out of 22 persons were white, 7 black and 1 was hispanic. The state with the most executions was Texas (9), followed by Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee (3) and Florida (2). Missouri and South Dakota both executed in 2019 one person. The lethal injection is more likely used (20) than the electrocution (2). Culture/Society A survey shows sharp increase in support for capital punishment between 1966 and 1994. However, perhaps as the result of DNA exonerations of death row inmates in the late 1990s, support began to wane, falling from 80% in 1994 to 56% in 2019. A 2014 poll showed significant differences by race: 63% of whites, 40% of Hispanics and 36% of blacks, respectively, supported the death penalty in that year. A study from 2014 found out that the belief that death penalty helps victims families to heal may be wrong More often the victims families are effect by depression and a decreased satisfaction with life. Capital punishment is a controversial issue, with many prominent organizations and individuals participating in the debate. Amnesty International and other groups oppose capital punishment on moral grounds. Opinion ● ● Historical events /timeline 1834 - Pennsylvania becomes the first state to move executions into correctional facilities, ending public executions. 1834 - Pennsylvania becomes the first state to move executions into correctional facilities, ending public executions. 1846 - Michigan becomes the first state to abolish the death penalty for all crimes except treason. ● ● Religious groups are widely split on the issue of capital punishment. ● Islam Judaism Christianity of highly in the light of modern Many Christians were scientific knowledge strongly opposed to the death penalty. group influential Muslim scholars in US has and concepts of issued a legal opinion humanity, the resort to It isn't against the calling for a stop on or continuation of belief capital punishment in capital punishment the United States until either by a state or by various preconditions the national is no morally in the legal system are government met longer | justifiable,, 1890 - William Kemmler becomes the first person executed by electrocution. 1907-1917 - Nine states abolish the death penalty for all crimes or strictly limit it. By 1920, five of those states had reinstated it. - June 29, 1972 - The Supreme Court effectively voids 40 death penalty statutes and suspends the death penalty. 1976 The death penalty is reinstated. 1986 - Execution of insane persons is banned. 1988 - Executions of offenders age 15 and younger at the time of their crimes are declared unconstitutional. 1996 - The last execution by hanging takes place in Delaware, with the death of Billy Bailey. ● 2012 - Connecticut replaces the death penalty with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The law is not retroactive to those already on death row. 2013 - Maryland repeals the death penalty. 2016 - Voters in California, Nebraska, Oklahoma are asked to take part in referendum on death penalty -> In all three states, majorities vote in favor of death penalty Botched executions One of the main arguments against the use of capital punishment in the United States is a long history of botched executions (execution that causes the prisoner to suffer for a long period of time before they die) A list of some botched executions: William Kemmler was the first person executed in the electric chair, in 1890. After being pronounced dead after 17 seconds, he was found to be still alive. A second current was passed through him, which was successful. The execution took two minutes In Arizona, it took Joseph Wood two hours to die after being injected In Alabama, the execution of Doyle Hamm was called off after prison medical staff spent nearly three hours attempting to insert an IV that could be used to administer the lethal injection drugs. In the process, the execution team punctured Hamm's bladder and femoral artery, causing significant bleeding. In Florida, Jesse Joseph Tafero had flames burst from his hair during an electrocution. Wallace Wilkerson died after 27 minutes in pain after the firing squad failed to shoot him in the heart. Because of this, the constitutionality of the use of the firing squad was questioned. The Supreme Court of the United States affirmed that the firing squad did not violate the Eighth Amendment in the case Wilkerson v. Utah (1879) In New Mexico, Thomas Ketchum was decapitated when his body fell through the trap door during his hanging In Mississippi, Jimmy Lee Gray died after being in the gas chamber for nine minutes. During the procedure, Gray thrashed and banged his head against the metal pole behind his head while struggling to breathe As you can see the number of people who support death penalty decreased over the years. Today the people are split when it comes to decide to suspend death penalty. Changes in policy The Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government from cruel and unusual punishments. It was adopted in 1791, along with the Bill of Rights. The late 1960s brought challenges to the legality of the death penalty Before then, the Eighth Amendment was interpreted as permitting the death penalty. So between 1967-77 there were no executions in the US. Furman v. Georgia (1972) was a criminal case in which the Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in the US and reduced all death sentences pending at the time to life imprisonment. Following Furman, in order to reinstate the death penalty, states had to remove arbitrary and discriminatory effects, to satisfy the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In Gregg v. Georgia (1976) it was decided to allow the death penalty again. in 1977, the first execution in the United States since 1967 took place. His name was Gary Gilmore, convicted in Utah of murder. Since then, more than 7,800 defendants have been sentenced to death; of these, more than 1,500 have been executed. As of 2019, 2,656 are still on death row. After a 16 years hiatus the death penalty for federal crimes was reinstated in July 2019. The last federal execution was that of Louis Jones, Jr. in 2003. There are currently 62 prisoners on federal death row(e.g. terrorits). key persons 1890 - William Kemmler becomes the first person executed by electrocution. 1977 - the first execution in the United States since 1967 took place. His name was Gary Gilmore, convicted in Utah of murder. 1982 - Charles Brooks becomes the first person executed by lethal injection. 1984 - Velma Barfield of North Carolina becomes the first woman executed since reinstatement of the death penalty. 1989 - Ted Bundy, a mass murderer and kidnapper, who raped and decapitated at least 30 people between 1974 and 1978, was executed. He is the archetype of murderers who was sentenced to death and the reason why some people still today support it. 1996 - The last execution by hanging takes place in Delaware, with the death of Billy Bailey. 2009 - Romell Broom was sentenced to death but the doctors searched two hours for a vein so they continued to jab at least 18 times and drilled into his arms, legs, hands and feet. After that people raised their voice against in the US common problems with lethal injection. 2011 - the company, that produces pentobarbital, which is used for lethal injection, announced it will restrict the use of its product from capital punishment. 2014 - Ohio executes Dennis McGuire with a new combination of drugs, due to the unavailability of drugs such as pentobarbital. The state uses a combination of the drugs. The execution process takes 24 minutes, and McGuire appears to be gasping for air for 10 to 13 minutes. 2014 - Arizona uses a new combination of drugs for the lethal injection to execute Joseph Woods, a convicted murderer. After the injection, it reportedly took him nearly two hours to die. Both events in Ohio and Arizona set off a worldwide scandal. Republicans on death penalty Trump administration asks top court to allow it to resume federal executions General William Barr, appointed by Trump, announced in July plans to resume executions of people sentenced to death in federal cases. Barr said his department owed it to crime victims and their families to carry out sentences imposed under the U.S. criminal justice system. Democrats point of view " We will abolish the death penalty, which has proven to be a cruel and unusual form of punishment. It has no place in the United States of America." In 2016, the Democratic Party platform called for abolishing capital punishment for the first time explicitly. Joe Biden Biden spent decades voicing strong support for the death penalty although the most members of the Democrats are against it. The 1994 crime bill, which Biden colloquially named after himself and later called his greatest accomplishment, created 60 new death penalty offenses under 41 federal capital statutes Nearly 1,500 people have been executed since 1976 After the 1994 law took effect, the number of executions increased from 31 that year, to 56 in 1995, 74 in 1997 and a high of 98 in 1999. Executions fell off precipitously since then, down to 22 in 2019. Bernie Sanders Tweeted: "Abolish the death penalty!" Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment in the United States https://www.youtube.com/user/StateBarofGeorgia https://death penalty.procon.org/historical-timeline/ https://death penaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/history-of-the-death- penalty/constitutionality-of-the-death-penalty-in-america https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-deathpenalty/trump-administration-asks-top- court-to-allow-it-to-resume-federal-executions-idUSKBN1Y628Q https://files.deathpenaltyinfo.org/legacy/files/pdf/2016Democratic PartyPlatform.pdf https://www.wsj.com/articles/republicans-leading-new-charge-to-end-the-death-penalty- 11550572205 https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/20/joe-biden-death-penalty-1371932 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_offenders_executed_in_the_United_States_in_2019 (statistic) https://twitter.com/berniesanders/status/1143942651999412225?lang=de https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/19/us/death-penalty-fast-facts/index.html https://www.ajc.com/news/high-profile-executions-the/xcyjsyiD6mwrW41L4pm6v0/ Handout Death Penalty General facts Used for particulary violent crimes Methods: being electrocuted in the electric chair, given a lethal injection, put in the gas chamber, hanged or shot by a firing squad prisoner may spend years on death row, average of people being in death row: 24 years currently used by 28 states only developed Western nation that applies death penalty Statistics of executed persons in 2019 Gender Male 22 Female 0 State Texas Alabama Georgia Tennessee 3 3 2 1 South Dakota 1 Florida Missouri Culture/Society ● 9 ● Historical events/Timeline Method Lethal injection Electrocution - Ethnicity White Black Hispanic 20 2 sharp increase in support between 1966 - 1994 perhaps as the result of DNA exonerations of death row inmates in the late '90s, support began to wane, falling from 80% in 1994 to 56% in 2019 Polls showed differences by race: 63% of whites, 40% of Hispanics and 36% of blacks, supported death penalty in 2014 Study from 2014 found out that belief in death penalty helping victims families to heal may be wrong, more often the victims families are effect by depression and a decreased satisfaction with life 14 7 1 Capital punishment is a controversial issue, with many prominent organizations and individuals participating in the debate: Amnesty International, other groups oppose capital punishment on moral grounds - 1834 - Pennsylvania becomes the first state to move executions into correctional facilities, ending public executions 1846 - Michigan becomes the first state to abolish the death penalty for all crimes except treason 1890 - William Kemmler becomes the first person executed by electrocution 1907-1917 - Nine states abolish death penalty for all crimes or strictly limit it. By 1920, five of those states had reinstated it 1972 - Supreme Court voids 40 death penalty statutes, suspends death penalty 1976 The death penalty is reinstated 1986 - Execution of insane persons is banned 1988 - Executions of offenders age 15 and younger at the time of their crimes are declared unconstitutional 1996 - last execution by hanging takes place 2012 - Connecticut replaces death penalty with life imprisonment without possibility of parole 2013 - Maryland repeals death penalty 2016- Voters in California, Nebraska, Oklahoma are asked to take part in referendum on death penalty -> In all three states, majorities vote in favor of death penalty Changes in policy Eighth Amendment of US Constitution prohibits federal government from cruel, unusual punishments, was adopted in 1791, along with Bill of Rights late 1960s brought challenges to legality of death penalty; before then, Eighth Amendment was interpreted as permitting death penalty -> between 1967-77 there were no executions in the US Furman v. Georgia (1972) : criminal case in which Supreme Court struck down death penalty, reduced all death sentences pending at the time to life imprisonment -> in order to reinstate, states had to remove arbitrary and discriminatory effects, to satisfy Eighth Amendment Gregg v. Georgia (1976): it was decided to allow death penalty again in 1977, first execution in the US since 1967 took place (Gary Gilmore) Since then, more than 7,800 defendants have been sentenced to death; of these, more than 1,500 have been executed, 2,656 still on death row (2019) after 16 years hiatus death penalty for federal crimes was reinstated in July 2019 last federal execution was that of Louis Jones, Jr. in 2003, there are currently 62 prisoners on federal death row (e.g. terrorits) Key persons ● 1890 - first person executed by electrocution (William Kemmler) 1977 - first execution in the United States since 1967 took place (Gary Gilmore) 1982 - first person executed by lethal injection (Charles Brooks) 1984 - first woman executed since reinstatement (Velma Barfield) 1989 - Ted Bundy (mass murderer, kidnapper, who raped and decapitated at least 30 people) was executed—> archetype of murderers who was sentenced to death, reason why some people still support it 1996 - last execution by hanging takes place (Billy Bailey) 2009 - Romell Broom was sentenced to death but doctors searched two hours for a vein, continued to jab at least 18 times and drilled into his arms, legs, hands and feet people raised their voice against in the US common problems with lethal injection 2011 - company, that produces pentobarbital (used for lethal injection) announced it will restrict the use of its product from capital punishment 2014 - Ohio executes Dennis McGuire with new combination of drugs, due to unavailability of drugs, execution takes 24 minutes, McGuire appears to be gasping for air for 10 to 13 minutes 2014 - Arizona uses new combination of drugs for lethal injection to execute Joseph Woods, after injection, it took him nearly two hours to die -> Both events set off worldwide scandal Republicans on death penalty Trump administration asks top court to allow it to resume federal executions General William Barr, announced plans to resume executions of people sentenced to death in federal cases, said his department owed it to crime victims and their families to carry out sentences imposed under the U.S. criminal justice system Democrat's point of view "We will abolish the death penalty, which has proven to be a cruel and unusual form of punishment. It has no place in the United States of America." -> in 2016, Democratic Party platform called for abolishing capital punishment for the first time Joe Biden Sources spent decades voicing strong support for death penalty although most members of Democrats are against it The 1994 crime bill, which Biden later called his greatest accomplishment, created 60 new death penalty offenses under 41 federal capital statutes Nearly 1,500 people have been executed since 1976 Bernie Sanders Tweeted: "Abolish the death penalty" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment in the United States https://www.youtube.com/user/StateBarofGeorgia https://deathpenalty.procon.org/historical-timeline/ After the 1994 law took effect, number of executions increased from 31 that year, to a high of 98 in 1999 Executions fell off precipitously since then, down to 22 in 2019 https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/history-of-the-death- penalty/constitutionality-of-the-death-penalty-in-america https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-deathpenalty/trump- administration-asks-top-court-to-allow-it-to-resume-federal-executions- idUSKBN1Y628Q pdf https://files.deathpenaltyinfo.org/legacy/files/pdf/2016DemocraticPartyPlatform. https://www.wsj.com/articles/republicans-leading-new-charge-to-end-the-death- https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/20/joe-biden-death-penalty-1371932 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_offenders_executed_in_the_United_States penalty-11550572205 in 2019 (statistic) https://twitter.com/berniesanders/status/1143942651999412225?lang=de https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/19/us/death-penalty-fast-facts/index.html https://www.ajc.com/news/high-profile-executions-the/xcyjsyiD6mwrW41L4pm6v0/ Death Penalty in the US Structuring • 1. General facts • 2. Culture/Society • 3. Historical events /timeline • 4. Botched executions 5. Changes in policy 6. Key persons • 7. Republicans on Death Penalty • 8. Democrat`s point of view 9. Sources General facts about the death penalty ● ● ● Used for particulary violent crimes Methods: being electrocuted in the electric chair, given a lethal injection, put in the gas chamber, hanged or shot by a firing squad prisoner may spend years on death row, average of people being in death row: 24 years arguments for and against capital punishment For Serves as a deterrent Reduces the cost of keeping prisoners in jail Is revenge for the victim's relatives Murderers who do not serve their full sentence and are released can reoffend Against Execution is barbaric, morally wrong to take another person's life Is not a deterrent since many murders are not premeditated Murder rates do not go up when it is abolished The murderer might reform or an innocent person might be executed ● ● currently used by 28 states only developed Western nation that applies death penalty Red: States with death penalty Green: States without the death penalty Statistics of executed persons in 2019 ● ● Gender Male Female Ethnicity White Black Hispanic 22 0 14 7 1 Method Lethal injection 20 Electrocution 2 ● State Texas Alabama Georgia Tennessee Florida Missouri South Dakota 9 3 3 3 2 1 1 Culture/Society ● sharp increase in support between 1966 - 1994 perhaps as the result of DNA exonerations of death row inmates in the late '90s, support began to wane, falling from 80% in 1994 to 56% in 2019 Polls showed differences by race: 63% of whites, 40% of Hispanics and 36% of blacks, supported death penalty in 2014 Study from 2014 found out that belief in death penalty helping victims families to heal may be wrong, more often the victims families are effect by depression and a decreased satisfaction with life Capital punishment is a controversial issue, with many prominent organizations and individuals participating in the debate: Amnesty International, other groups oppose capital punishment on moral grounds ● Religious groups are widely split on the issue of capital punishment. Opinion Islam Judaism Christianity group of highly in the light of Many Christians influential Muslim modern scientific were strongly scholars in US has knowledge and opposed to the issued a legal concepts of death penalty. opinion calling for a humanity, the resort It isn't against the stop on capital to or continuation beliefs punishment in the of capital United States until punishment either various by a state or by the preconditions in the national legal system are government is no longer morally justifiable met Botched executions ● • botched executions = execution which causes prisoner suffering for a long period before they die William Kemmler: first person executed in electric chair (1890), being pronounced dead after 17 seconds, he was found to be still alive ● ● ● Joseph Wood: it took him two hours to die after being injected Doyle Hamm: medical staff spent nearly three hours attempting to insert an IV for injection, execution team punctured Hamm's bladder and femoral artery, causing significant bleeding Jesse Joseph Tafero had flames burst from his hair during an electrocution Wallace Wilkerson died after 27 minutes in pain after firing squad failed to shoot him in the heart Thomas Ketchum was decapitated when his body fell through the trap door during his hanging Jimmy Lee Gray died after being in gas chamber for nine minutes number of people supporting death penalty decreased over the years people are split when it comes to decide to suspend death penalty Historical events / Timeline 1834 - Pennsylvania becomes the first state to move executions into correctional facilities, ending public executions • • ● 1846 - Michigan becomes the first state to abolish the death penalty for all crimes except treason 1890 - William Kemmler becomes the first person executed by electrocution 1907-1917 - Nine states abolish death penalty for all crimes or strictly limit it. By 1920, five of those states had reinstated it 1972 - Supreme Court voids 40 death penalty statutes, suspends death penalty • 1976- The death penalty is reinstated 1986 - Execution of insane persons is banned • 1988 - Executions of offenders age 15 and younger at the time of their crimes are declared unconstitutional 1996 - last execution by hanging takes place 2012 - Connecticut replaces death penalty with life imprisonment without possibility of parole • 2013 - Maryland repeals death penalty • 2016 - Voters in California, Nebraska, Oklahoma are asked to take part in referendum on death penalty -> In all three states, majorities vote in favor of death penalty Changes in policy Eighth Amendment of US Constitution prohibits federal government from cruel, unusual punishments, was adopted in 1791, along with Bill of Rights ● ● late 1960s brought challenges to legality of death penalty; before then, Eighth Amendment was interpreted as permitting death penalty between 1967-77 there were no executions in the US Furman v. Georgia (1972): criminal case in which Supreme Court struck down death penalty, reduced all death sentences pending at the time to life imprisonment -> in order to reinstate, states had to remove arbitrary and discriminatory effects, to satisfy Eighth Amendment Gregg v. Georgia (1976): it was decided to allow death penalty again in 1977, first execution in the US since 1967 took place (Gary Gilmore) Since then, more than 7,800 defendants have been sentenced to death; of these, more than 1,500 have been executed, 2,656 still on death row (2019) After a 16 years hiatus death penalty for federal crimes was reinstated in July 2019. last federal execution was that of Louis Jones, Jr. in 2003, there are currently 62 prisoners on federal death row (e.g. terrorits) Key Persons • 1890 - first person executed by electrocution (William Kemmler) ● ● ● ● 1977 - first execution in the United States since 1967 took place (Gary Gilmore) 1982 - first person executed by lethal injection (Charles Brooks) 1984 - first woman executed since reinstatement (Velma Barfield) 1989 - Ted Bundy (mass murderer, kidnapper, who raped and decapitated at least 30 people) was executed-> archetype of murderers who was sentenced to death, reason why some people still support it 1996 - last execution by hanging takes place (Billy Bailey) ● • 2009 - Romell Broom was sentenced to death but doctors searched two hours for a vein, continued to jab at least 18 times and drilled into his arms, legs, hands and feet -> people raised their voice against in the US common problems with lethal injection 2011 - company, that produces pentobarbital (used for lethal injection) announced it will restrict the use of its product from capital punishment 2014 - Ohio executes Dennis McGuire with new combination of drugs, due to unavailability of drugs, execution takes 24 minutes, McGuire appears to be gasping for air for 10 to 13 minutes • 2014 - Arizona uses new combination of drugs for lethal injection to execute Joseph Woods, after injection, it took him nearly two hours to die -> Both events set off worldwide scandal Republicans on death penalty ● Trump administration asks top court to allow it to resume federal executions General William Barr, announced plans to resume executions of people sentenced to death in federal cases, said his department owed it to crime victims and their families to carry out sentences imposed under the U.S. criminal justice system Democrat's point of view "'We will abolish the death penalty, which has proven to be a cruel and unusual form of punishment. It has no place in the United States of America." -> in 2016, Democratic Party platform called for abolishing capital punishment for the first time explicitly Joe Biden spent decades voicing strong support for death penalty although most members of Democrats are against it The 1994 crime bill, which Biden later called his greatest accomplishment, created 60 new death penalty offenses under 41 federal capital statutes Nearly 1,500 people have been executed since 1976 After the 1994 law took effect, number of executions increased from 31 that year, to a high of 98 in 1999 Executions fell off precipitously since then, down to 22 in 2019 Bernie Sanders Tweeted: "'Abolish the death penalty" Sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital punishment in the United States https://www.youtube.com/user/State BarofGeorgia https://death penalty.procon.org/historical-timeline/ https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/history-of-the-death-penalty/constitutionality-of-the-death- penalty-in-america https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-death penalty/trump-administration-asks-top-court-to-allow-it- to-resume-federal-executions-idUSKBN1Y628Q https://files.deathpenaltyinfo.org/legacy/files/pdf/2016DemocraticPartyPlatform.pdf https://www.wsj.com/articles/republicans-leading-new-charge-to-end-the-death-penalty-11550572205 https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/20/joe-biden-death-penalty-1371932 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List of offenders executed in the United States in 2019 (statistic) https://twitter.com/berniesanders/status/1143942651999412225?lang=de https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/19/us/death-penalty-fast-facts/index.html https://www.ajc.com/news/high-profile-executions-the/xcyjsyiD6mwrW41L4pm6v0/ Death Penalty - important vocabulary imprisonment - Inhaftierung - custodial sentence — Haftstrafe ; to take someome into custody — jmd. In Haft nehmen offender (Straf-)Täter(in) offence Straftat felonies - Verbrechen penalty Strafe fine, to pay a fine - Geldstrafe community service Sozialdienst probation order Bewährungsurteil; to be on probation auf Bewährung sein; probation officer - Bewährungshelfer(in) electronic tagging — elektronische Fußfessel curfew Ausgangssperre participation - Teilnahme; to participate in sth. drug treatment programme Drogenentzugsprogramm attendence centre — Einrichtung für jugendliche Straftäter(innen) juvenile offender — jugendliche(r) Straftäter(in) death penalty = capital punishment - Todesstrafe violent gewalttätig; violence - Gewalt - to sentence someone to death - jemanden zu Tode verurteilt to electrocute someone - jemanden auf dem elektrischen Stuhl hinrichten lethal injection - Todesspritze - an etwas teilnehmen to hang someone (hanged, hanged) - jemanden hängen firing squad Exekutionskommando to be on death row - sich im Todestrakt befinden to serve a sentence eine Strafe absitzen to release someone - jemanden entlassen to reoffend wieder straffällig werden to reform - sich bessern innocent # guilty. unschuldig correctional facility — Justizvollzugsanstalt treason Verrat statutes = law = act - Gesetz, Statuten, Satzung execution - Hinrichtung ; to execute someone — jemanden hinrichten to appeal - berufung einlegen to cummute a sentence eine Strafe mildern to abolish something etwas abschaffen deterrent Abschreckung morally wrong moralisch bedenklich to reduce something — etw. verringern ; reduction jail = prison - Gefängnis premeditated - vorsätzlich revenge Rache relative = relation - Verwandte(r)