...the crime. Since 1973, hundreds of innocent people have been released from death row, after the evidence that sentenced them to death was found to be inaccurate. Many of these innocent people were victims of wrongful convictions based on confused witnesses, mistakes by lawyers and inaccurate forensics, while the person actually responsible for the crime was still free. Cases involving DNA evidence in court, such as Ray Krone's case, can be denied access even if life and death are on the ropes. Found guilty, Krone was sentenced to death for rape and murder in Arizona, even though DNA found on the victim did not correlate with his. Arizona argued that no submission of DNA evidence could interfere with the jury decision. A decade later, without a court order, a crime lab worker identified the person who actually committed the crime through DNA evidence, and Ray Krone was luckily exonerated before his death. Likewise in 2011, Troy Davis was convicted in Georgia for murdering police officer Mark Allen MacPhail. Physical evidence did not convict him, but testimonies from nine witnesses strongly tied him to the case. After Davis’s execution, seven witnesses changed their testimonies, two remained in what they believed...
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...Furman v. Georgia Death Penalty Furman v. Georgia Death Penalty University of Phoenix Cultural Diversity in Criminal Justice University of Phoenix Cultural Diversity in Criminal Justice The Furman v. Georgia case states that the United States Supreme Court rules that capital punishment was not constitutional. There were five justices that had come together in this ruling and together they thought that capital punishment was to be banned in the United States. On August 11th, 1967 Micke William Jr. woke up when he heard noises in his house. When he got up he went to see where the noises were coming from and he ended up finding Henry Furman in his kitchen. Furman, an uneducated African American, broke into the kitchen with a gun (Smith 2008). When Furman realized that he had been spotted by Micke he ran for it while he fired a shot at Micke. The shot that was fired got Micke in the chest and it killed him instantly. His family immediately called the police. When the police reported to the scene they searched the house and the neighborhood. They ended up finding Furman in the neighborhood with the murder weapon where he was arrested and charged with the murder of Micke William Jr. The court ordered that Furman have a psychological exam done before the trial is held. The results came back from the psychological exam stating that Furman is psychotic and mentally ill. Murder cases can usually last a good while and they can become complicated cases. The trial for Furman...
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...George Kendall, was sentenced to death for being a spy. Other colonies began to pass laws specifying crimes that would constitute the death penalty. As years passed and colonies became states, the death penalty was still being used. However in 1972, there was a four year suspension of the death penalty. In Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled the death penalty as a violation of the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment which opposes to cruel and unusual punishment. In this Supreme Court case, a resident woke up while William Furman was committing a robbery. William Furman tried to escape but he stumbled and the gun he was carrying mistakenly went off killing the resident in the home. At this point, William Furman was found guilty of robbery and murder. As mentioned above, the court concluded the death penalty itself was cruel and unusual punishment...
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...The Use of Human Dignity in Death Penalty Cases: An International perspective An examination of cases from several jurisdictions that address the legality of the death penalty reveals various uses of the notion of human dignity. In 1972, in Furman v. Georgia, the United States Supreme Court declared all existing death penalty statutes at the time unconstitutional as a violation of the Eighth Amendment prohibiting "cruel and unusual punishment". There was no majority opinion, and each of the five majority members wrote a separate opinion. While three of them based their decision on the arbitrary and discriminatory application of the death penalty in the U.S., Justices Brennan and Marshall based their opinions on the per-se unconstitutionality of capital punishment. Justice Brennan argued that although human dignity is not explicitly guaranteed by the United States Constitution, it is the fundamental concept underlying the Eighth Amendment. In his opinion: "The State, even as it punishes, must treat its members with respect for their intrinsic worth as human beings. A punishment is "cruel and unusual, therefore, "if it does not comport with human dignity". He declared that the severity of capital punishment is degrading to the dignity of a man, and since even the vilest criminals share an inherent dignity, the punishment is unconstitutional. Though in Brennan words human dignity functions as a justification for the Eight Amendment, they seem to illustrate the psychological approach...
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...include costs for prosecuting and defense attorneys, interpreters, expert witnesses, court reporters, psychiatrists, secretaries, and jury consultants (“Costs of the…”) as well as “the necessity for two trials – one on guilt and one on sentencing” (Dieter). According to an article by the Death Penalty Information Center, “a non-profit organization serving the media and the public with analysis and information on issues concerning capital punishment in the United States” (“What’s New”), “the average cost of defending a trial in a federal death case is $620,932, about eight times that of a federal murder case in which the death penalty was not sought” (“Costs of the…”). Take the state of Washington for example. A study conducted by the University of Seattle determined that “in Washington each death penalty case cost an average of one million dollars more than a similar case where the death penalty was not sought (on average $3.07 million v. $2.01 million)” (“Costs of the…”). Similarly “since the death penalty’s reinstatement in Washington in 1981, Washington has carried out five executions, each costing an average twenty four million dollars” (“Costs of the…”). This exorbitant cost can also be exemplified through the state of California, where the expenditure of maintaining the death penalty has totaled over four billion dollars since 1978 (“Costs of the…”). That is the equivalent price of 20,000 2015 Lamborghini Huracans which is allocated from the state’s budget. An article...
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...the supreme court overturned its previous decision in Furman v. Georgia with a new case: Gregg v. Georgia. Troy Gregg was sentenced to death as he was convicted of robbing and murdering two men he was traveling with. Although accepting the robbery accusation he appealed to the supreme court that execution for murder was unconstitutional under the eighth amendment (Oyez). This directly conflicted with the already established case of Furman v. Georgia as the precedent stated that the death penalty was in fact unconstitutional. The problem with Furman v. Georgia case in regards to Gregg was that it answered a different question than the one Gregg raised himself. Gregg’s trial asked if the death penalty was constitutional in its entirety; Furman’s trial asked if it the death penalty was unconstitutional if the legal proceedings were unfair....
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...The case of Coker v. Georgia, 433 U.S. 584, (1977), is a United States Supreme Court case which address a claim of cruel and unusual punishment, under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as well as a proportionality claim (Cornell University, n.d.). The petitioner in this case, Ehrlich Anthony Coker, claimed that the state of Georgia had violated his Eighth Amendment rights, when he was given a death sentence for his rape of an adult female, and subsequently claims that the punishment was too severe for the crime he committed, thus the proportionality claim. Ehrlich Anthony Coker was an inmate in a Georgia state prison, serving three life sentences, for rape and murder, as well as two 20 year sentences, and one 8...
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...or the Court’s subsequent ruling (Booklet). The Court decides whether specific state statutes are applied rightly or whether a person’s Constitutional rights have been violated. The Constitutionality of the death penalty in the United States has been decided by the Justices of the Supreme Court based on cases appealed from different states. The people who founded the United States came from England and European countries where there had always been a death penalty. This does not mean there are no reasons for states to abolish the death penalty; just that it is currently legal for the states to have this punishment. The present controversy started when the Supreme Court decided in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), that imposition and carrying out of the death penalty in the cases before it constituted cruel and unusual punishment and violated Mr. Furman’s rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. There was no argument that Mr. Furman committed a violent murder. The problem was that the Georgia statute used to sentence him to death was badly written. An extremely severe punishment was being imposed in an arbitrary and capricious manner. The Georgia...
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...Criminological Relationships between Theory and Policy American Intercontinental University Julie Hurden Abstract This paper will discuss three policies within the criminological field and the theories that might have influenced them. The three policies and two theories that will be discussed in this paper are the death penalty, three strikes laws and expunging of records, the classical school of criminology and the labeling theory. This paper will discuss rulings by the Supreme Court concerning the “Three Strikes and You’re Out” laws and the death penalty policies. It will review the Eighth Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. Criminological Relationships between Theory and Policy Three Strikes and You’re out Law (TSAYO) The Three Strikes Laws are basically laws that order increased sentences for repeat criminals, this increased sentence is given after three felony crimes have been committed by an offender. Most state and federal laws in the United States require harsher punishment for repeat offenders but they are not as severe as the “Three Strikes and You’re Out” (TSAYO) laws. TSAYO was passed into law to help protect society from persons that are dangerous and have exhibited a pattern of criminal behavior, to break it down this law simply takes repeat offenders out of the game by putting them in prison and hopefully deter others from committing...
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...“Death Penalty” Furman was a poor black man living in Georgia when he broke into William Joseph Micke, Jr’s house, Mr. Micke went downstairs to investigate and saw William Furman in his house with a gun. Furman began to flee the house but tripped in the process and fired the gun accidently shooting Mr. Micke in the chest and killing him instantly. Furman was later found by the police still carrying the gun and arrested for murder. This case is known as Furman v. Georgia and was taken to the Supreme Court on the fact that the death penalty in Georgia violated the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This is a landmark case because “The significance of Furman v. Georgia is that this case was the first case that was ruled violating the Eighth amendment and that it halted every man on death row in the United States” (study). But before the case reached the Supreme Court the case went on trial September 20, 1968 where Furman pleaded mentally ill and insane, the court rejected his plea and found him guilty of murder. Then, Furman appealed his conviction and sentence, based on the death penalty in Georgia violating the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution . The Eighth Amendment says the federal government may not use "cruel and unusual punishments” (Henson). The case was later tried in the Supreme Court January 17, 1972. The justices who won majority and reversed the case were William J. Brennan, Jr., William O. Douglas, Thurgood Marshall, Potter...
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...of the case Foster V. Chatman. ABA (American...
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...The case that I have been referring to is the case of McCleskey v Kemp, 481 U.S. 279 (1987). This case has held high significance in the legal and social communities. The reason it was so significant was because it was the first case that the plaintiff provided a scientific study to back up their claims that racial discrimination is prevalent in the death sentencing process. It was also significant because it exposed the Supreme Court’s failure to take action against this issue. Fifteen years previously the Supreme Court reviewed the case of Furman v Georgia, 480 U.S. 238 (1972) that highlighted a similar issue. The case resulted in different opinions among the majority of the justices and no clear remedy on how to fix the issue at hand. The McCleskey v Kemp case is the...
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...DEATH PENALTY ARLINCY ERSKINE WESTWOOD COLLEGE REFERENCES References (2010). Retrieved from www.bsos.umd.edu. (2013). Retrieved from www.citelighter.com. Bardes, S. S. (2013-2014). American Government and Politics Today. Boston: Cengage Learning. www.studentsnewsdaily.com. (2013). Retrieved from www.studentsnewsdaily.com. DEATH PENALTY Thesis As you further read into this paper you will understand the reason and cause for the death penalty in the United States. You will be educated how many states in the United States use the death penalty as a form of punishment and also what form of it is used. There are many methods of death some states opposed while others see it as “an eye for an eye”. Capital Punishment is defined as the practice of executing an individual as punishment for a specific crime. This is known as a state’s form of committing murder. Capital punishment comes from the Latin word meaning for the head. Some oppose it (those we term Conservative) and those who support it (these we term Liberal). Capital Punishment can range from simple punishments of cutting ones’ hand off for stealing to being hung, set in front of a firing squad, using lethal injection (a commonly used form), to being gassed, or the electric chair (a more common form). Some countries even use poisoning, starving, and burning (which some deem as unconstitutional). So because a state does it, is it legal? Or morally right? Yes because it is done...
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...The death penalty was established on January 17th, 1977. There are currently 32 states in the United States in which the death penalty is legal and 18 where it is not. The death penalty is often referred to as capital punishment as well because it can only be used as a conviction to capital offenses that are seen as extreme cases. Examples of this include espionage, treason, death resulting from aircraft hijacking, and various forms of murder; such as murder committed during drug-related drive by shootings, murder during a kidnapping, murder for hire, and genocide. Death penalty was seen as a constitutional punishment in the case Furman v. Georgia that took place in 1972. In this case a man named Troy Gregg had been found guilty of murder and armed robbery and sentenced to death. He then asked the court to go further into the case and rule the death penalty itself unconstitutional. The case then got carried to the supreme court in which they ruled that the death penalty does not violate any part of the constitution, including the 8th amendment. The eighth amendment bans cruel and unusual punishment under the constitution. In the Furman v. Georgia case it stated that the death penalty does not violate the constitution because under the eighth amendment it shapes how certain procedural aspects regarding when a jury may use the death penalty and how it must be carried out. In modern days the death penalty is carried out by lethal injection unless the inmates choose an alternative...
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...depravity and that long-term death row convicts are particularly prone to become mentally unstable. This condition is commonly known as death row phenomenon. In severe cases, some convicts may try committing suicide. Issues relating to the administration of capital punishment are vast and varied. Often, talk about the use of death penalty concentrates more on sentimental arguments pertaining to the moral issue emanating from the administration of death penalty. This paper attempts to study the issues that surround capital punishment by making use of the system analysis approach. It shall endeavor to explore the dehumanizing effects brought about by the recommencement of capital punishment. While there are no clear-cut answers regarding the matter of capital punishment and death sentence, this paper will attempt to shed more light on the normally intricate social issue. Impact of Death Row on the Correction System In June 1972 in a case concerning Furman v. Georgia brought before the U.S. Supreme Court, the court submitted that capital punishment was unlawful and unconstitutional and revoked the state death penalty legislations across the entire U. S. Several death sentences were adjusted to life imprisonment. The Supreme Court however, in 1976 rescinded its previous decision in the case of Gregg v. Georgia and affirmed the constitutionality of capital punishment. A year later, the...
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