Matakuliah
Tahun
: L0472 - Psikologi Forensik
: Feb -2010
Death Penalty Trials and Appeals
Pertemuan 11
Justification of Punishment
• Backward looking
– Retributive
• Forward looking
– Detterence
– Rehabilitation
– Reconciliation
Detterence
• Cross-sectional research
• Longitudinal research
Types of Punishment
• Positive punishment
• Negative punishment
Side Effects of Punishment
• Skinner (1938)
• Boe & Church (1967)
Death Penalty, Does It Matter?
• Severity, or
• Immediateness and
• Consistency
Capital Punishment
• Link between attitude toward death penalty and
likelihood of conviction
– Cannot bar person from serving on jury due to beliefs against
death penalty unless bias would result in ignoring evidence
presented
– Research: pro-death penalty more likely from high status,
conservative, authoritarian males
Methods of execution
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•
•
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Electrocution
Lethal injection
Hanging
Shooting
Beheading
Stoning
Arguments for death penalty
• Deter perpetrators – would-be murderers fear being
caught
• Protect society - convicted murderers prevented from
killing again
• Provide justice for victim – a life for a life
• Is state’s responsibility – to preserve order, to right
wrong
• Is more humane than alternatives – life imprisonment is
a “living tomb”
Arguments for death penalty
•
“Following the prison spokesman's
announcement that Ted (Bundy)
was officially dead, sounds of
cheers came from the jubilant
crowd and fireworks lit the sky.
Shortly thereafter, a white hearse
emerged from the prison gates with
the remains of one of the countries
most notorious serial killers. As the
vehicle moved towards the
crematorium, the surrounding
crowd cheerfully applauded the end
of a living nightmare.”
From www.crimelibrary.com
Arguments against death penalty
• Is barbaric – against human rights, base vengeance,
state-sanctioned murder
• Does not deter crime – no substantial proof of
decreasing crime rates
• Takes innocent lives – eg. Timothy Evans, prejudice
against certain groups
• Has high costs – cases time-consuming
• Has no possibility of rehabilitation – extenuating
circumstances