Death Penalty Information

Now that you've looked at an individual case study (Clifford Boggess), explored the law and read about the basics of the arguments for and against the death penalty, it's time to examine its current status and how it operates. Please follow the steps below and blog your responses to the questions. Your responses should correspond to the individual bullet points. Make sure you are specific and detailed in your responses.  This is a required post and may count for this week.

• Read about the STAGES in a death penalty case. Be sure you understand all of the different steps involved.  You need to read about all of the subtopics prior to clicking the arrow to move to the next stage (i.e. read about all of the steps in the pre-trial phase before moving on to the guilt phase) If the full text is not showing up in the interactive interface, click on this LINK to read the text without the graphics.
• RESPOND-What aspects of the stages in a capital case are designed to protect the rights of the accused? Do you believe that this system is sufficient to guarantee that only the guilty are convicted?
• Read about the different METHODS of execution.
• RESPOND-Which of these (if any) are the most humane? Should any be considered “cruel and unusual” according to the 8th Amendment? If so which? Why?
• Look at this table comparing states. Then note;Which states have the most inmates on Death Row? Which states have no death penalty? Which state has the most inmates on death row? Can you hypothesize any reasons for the differences?  Now look at the murder rates on this MAP. Going back to the table, can you make any conclusions by using both sets of data?
• Explore the demographic data here.   Make sure you click on both the number of inmates on death row as well as the number of executions. Questions to consider as you explore include:  Are there more blacks or whites on death row? Which state has the most women on death row? Are more men or women on death row? Why aren’t there any statistics for juveniles on death row? Are there differences in number of executions by ethnicity?
• Look at the information on this MAP What is the most commonly used method of execution in those states that have the death penalty? 
• RESPOND-What sorts of conclusions can you draw from this data? What does the state by state data tell us about how the death penalty is used? What regional or other trends do you see? What might this data tell us about issues of equality, arbitrariness,and justice?
• Click on this document to read the former Illinois Capital Murder statute. RESPOND-How many aggravating factors are listed that might have led to the death penalty?  What do you think of them? ? Should the crimes listed have death as a potential punishment? Why or why not? Go HERE to see more information about the death penalty in Illinois prior to its abolishment. Does the data tell you anything about why the Illinois death penalty is no longer in effect? If not, make an inference.
• Take a look at the updated FACT SHEET put out by the Death Penalty Information Center.  This is current as of 12/2/2015.  Make some conclusions based on this information.
• RESPOND-How does the information here influence your previous responses? What does this data say about the economics of the death penalty? What does the data say about the influence of race on the death penalty? What does the data say about public opinion for the death penalty? What does the data say about innocence?  About deterrence?  Looking at the information overall, what point of view would you say that the Death Penalty Information center has? Is it convincing? Why or why not? What additional information would you like?
• BONUS-For fans of the TV Show Dexter. Read the blogs posted here and here. RESPOND: If Dexter was caught, should he receive the death penalty? Why or why not?