The death penalty has a long history it began in colonial America It is restricted to the most serious crimes murder and treason Furman v Georgia 1972 The Supreme Court held that the death penalty as applied was unconstitutional under the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the 8 ID: 640244
Download Presentation The PPT/PDF document "Capital Punishment History" is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
Capital PunishmentSlide2
History
The death penalty has a long history; it began in colonial America.
It is restricted to the most serious crimes, murder and treason.Slide3
Furman v. Georgia (1972)
The Supreme Court held that the death penalty, as applied, was unconstitutional under the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the 8
th
amendment.
However, the Court left the door open for states to rewrite their statutes.Slide4
Gregg v. Georgia (1978)
The Court upheld the death penalty “as an expression of society’s outrage.”
Statutes must allow consideration of aggravating and mitigating circumstances.Slide5
Circumstances
Aggravating circumstances make the crime worse.
Mitigating circumstances do not excuse the crime, but tend to make it less severe.Slide6
Death by Numbers
37 states have the death penalty.
36 states and the federal government use lethal injection.
10 states use electrocutionSlide7
Death by Numbers
4 states use lethal gas
3 states use firing squads (Idaho, Oklahoma and Utah).
3 states use hanging (Delaware, New Hampshire, and Washington)