‘Should capital punishment
be abolished in the United
States?’
Evie Jeff ery
,Contents
The modern history of capital punishment in the United States............3
The racial implication on Capital punishment.......................................5
Is capital punishment a breach of human rights?.................................6
Death row..........................................................................................8
The impact and views of Christianity on capital punishment...............10
In defence of the death penalty.........................................................11
Conclusion.......................................................................................13
Appendix.........................................................................................15
Bibliography.....................................................................................21
Reading log......................................................................................25
Introduction
Capital punishment is the practice of executing individuals as punishment for a specific crime after a
proper legal trial1. This project will investigate the possibility of the abolishment of capital
punishment in the United States (US). Capital punishment has been a highly controversial, yet well-
established practice in the US for almost four hundred years. However, during this time there have
,been several significant points of abolishment, due to ongoing petitions. Despite this, capital
punishment was reinstated and still used currently.
I will review the research to date which has focussed on various factors surrounding the practice of
capital punishment such as history, racial bias, religion, the possibility of a violation of human rights,
death row and the defence of the death penalty. Despite very brief acknowledgement from the
Supreme Court, this issue is yet to be fully explored by those in a position of power. As an example,
racial bias has previously been called ‘inevitable,’ by the Supreme Court2. It is important to focus on
this issue for several reasons. Firstly, we are at a significant point in society where we are becoming
more open to diverse cultures by the day. Some people may disagree with this however, as they
would argue that the use of punishment against ethnic groups is declining. However, this isn’t
entirely reflected in the use of capital punishment. Secondly, this issue is thoroughly researched but
often without considering all factors of the death penalty. For example, research surrounding the
defence of the death penalty, often doesn’t regard religion, which are both closely linked topics. In
addition to his, some subjects have lacked research and information. For example, ‘to date, very
little has been known about the neuropsychiatric status of persons condemned to death.’3
The issue of capital punishment in the US is therefore complex, as there are many factors to consider
before coming to a valid conclusion. The key question that will be addressed is if capital punishment
should be abolished in the US. This will be explored by looking at contemporary research in the field
and a questionnaire from a range of people.
The modern history of capital punishment in the United
States
The debatable practice of capital punishment has been present in the US for nearly 400 years, with
the first execution in 1622, in the state of Virginia 1. For most of the US history, capital punishment
has been used for a wide range of crimes, including arson and burglary. This was extremely common
for most states, during the 20th century2. However, between 1968 and 1972, no executions took
place3.
One of the reasons for this was the Furman v. Georgia case in 1972, that primarily revolves around
the eighth amendment which prohibits the federal government from imposing unduly harsh
penalties on criminal defendants4. In this case, the court vocalised how they believed the Georgia
death penalty law to be unconstitutional because it gave the jury complete power to determine
upon conviction whether the death penalty was the right option. Justice Stewart found this ‘freakish
and wanton,’ as they believed the jury's power was completely uncontrolled 5. This led the Court to
believe that the death penalty was applied in a manner that disproportionately harmed minorities 6.
Therefore, in a 5-4 decision the Supreme Court struck down the death penalty as they found that it
1
Banner, S., 2003. The Death Penalty: An American History.
2
Marcus, P., 2007. Capital Punishment in the United States, and Beyond.
3
Bessler, J., 2021. Foreword: The Death Penalty in Decline: From Colonial America to the Present.
4
LII / Legal Information Institute. 2021. Furman v. Georgia (1972). [online] Available at:
<https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/furman_v_georgia_(1972)> [Accessed 1 April 2021].
5
Justia Law. 2021. General Validity and Guiding Principles. [online] Available at:
<https://law.justia.com/constitution/us/amendment-08/07-general-validity-and-guiding-principles.html>
[Accessed 28 April 2021].
, did indeed violate the Eighth Amendment. The court acknowledged that it is now well established
that the Eighth Amendment draws much of its meaning from ‘the evolving standards of decency that
mark the progress of a maturing society. 7' One of the most significant developments in our society's
treatment of capital punishment has been the rejection of the common-law practice of inexorably
imposing a death sentence upon every person convicted 8. This is a compelling case for the
abolishment of capital punishment, since the court have previously acknowledged the prejudice
shown in the use of the death penalty.
However, after the Gregg v. Georgia case the Supreme court decided that the death penalty should
be reinstated as they determined that the death penalty would not violate the US Constitution if a
jury had been given adequate guidance as to the exercise of its discretion 9. This led to the end of a
ten-year temporary suspension of the death penalty in 1977, after Gary Gilmore was executed, and
from here on there have been over 100 executions in the US 10. Nevertheless, these executions have
not been distributed evenly throughout the US as half of this number is from Texas, Oklahoma and
Virginia. Despite this, what is surprising is that these three states only make up 11% of the US
population.11 This contrasts with most of the state and federal laws and makes a convincing
argument for the abolishment of the death penalty, which followed the US Supreme Court in
attempting to limit, yet not eliminate the freedom of the jury by stating exactly what crimes would
result in the death penalty. This therefore would decrease the use of capital punishment as more
specific conditions with death penalty sentences, would result in caution when convicting
individuals. This suggests that capital punishment should not be abolished in the United States.
A significant example of this is the statutory scheme in the state of Louisiana. In this scheme the
death penalty will only be prosecuted for committing at least one of the ‘aggravating
circumstances.12’ These aggravating circumstances consist of the fact that the victim was killed
during the commission of a serious violent crime such as a criminal gang activity, kidnapping or rape,
the victim was a law enforcement officer; the defendant had been convicted of another murder; the
victim had been mutilated and the victim was a young child 13. In addition, if the defendant is
convicted of murder, a second procedure must take place to determine the penalty 14. These
schemes and other methods like this have helped the death penalty to gradually decline. An
example of other methods; DNA testing has helped the death penalty to decline, as the test helps to
prove if inmates are innocent or guilty. As of September 2011, 237 people including 17 death row
inmates, have been released using DNA tests 15. This is a crucial argument against the abolishment of
capital punishment as the crimes that result in death are more specific, and therefore less likely to
6
LII / Legal Information Institute. 2021. Furman v. Georgia (1972). [online] Available at:
<https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/furman_v_georgia_(1972)> [Accessed 1 April 2021].
7
Garfield, D., 2015. Capital Punishment in the USA.
8
Marcus, P., 2007. Capital Punishment in the United States, and Beyond.
9
Marcus, P., 2007. Capital Punishment in the United States, and Beyond.
10
Death Penalty Information Center. 2021. The History of the Death Penalty: A Timeline. [online] Available at:
<https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/stories/history-of-the-death-penalty-timeline> [Accessed 2 April 2021].
11
Marcus, P., 2007. Capital Punishment in the United States, and Beyond.
12
Scharff Smith, P. (2009) ‘Solitary Confinement – History, Practice, and Human Rights
13
Little, R., 1999. The Federal Death Penalty: History and Some Thoughts About the Department of Justice's
Role.
14
Marcus, P., 2007. Capital Punishment in the United States, and Beyond.
15
American Civil Liberties Union. 2021. DNA Testing and the Death Penalty. [online] Available at:
<https://www.aclu.org/other/dna-testing-and-death-penalty#:~:text=In%20the%20U.S.%2C%20as%20of,by
%20use%20of%20DNA%20tests.&text=DNA%20testing%20on%20biological%20samples,or%20exonerate
%20with%20great%20accuracy.> [Accessed 3 April 2021].
