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The Death Penalty
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Capital Punishment
A. The debate over capital punishment
1. Retribution, deterrence, and incapacitation are usually cited as the
reasons for keeping the death penalty.
B. Arguments supporting capital punishment
1. The death penalty deters criminals from committing violent acts.
2. The death penalty serves justice by paying killers back for horrible
crimes.
3. The death penalty prevents murderers from doing further harm.
4. The death penalty is less expensive than holding violent criminals in
prison for decades or for life.
C. Arguments opposing capital punishment
1. There is no evidence that the death penalty deters violent crime.
2. It is wrong for a government to participate in the intentional killing of its
citizens.
3. The death penalty is applied in a discriminatory fashion.
4. Innocent people have been executed.
II. The Death Penalty in America
A. The death penalty has been controversial since colonial times; executions
carried out in public until the 1830s; strong historical roots in American
culture.
B. Death Row Population
1. Between 1930 and 1967 when the Supreme Court ordered a stay of
executions, 3,859 men and women were executed by state and federal
authorities.
2. In 1935, 199 people were put to death, but after that, the number
began to fall steadily.
3. After the Supreme Court reaffirmed the constitutionality of the death
penalty in 1976, state legislatures quickly enacted new laws providing
for the execution of convicted murderers under some circumstances;
executions resumed.
4. The numbers of people facing the death penalty has increased
dramatically since 1976.
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