Purposes of Prison

Mission statement of Federal Bureau of
Prison
– “to protect society by confining offenders
in the controlled environments of prisons
and community-based facilities that are
safe, humane, cost-efficient, and
appropriately secure, and that provide
work and other self-improvement
opportunities to assist offenders in
becoming law-abiding citizens.”

Implies rehabilitation
Goals of Incarceration


Retribution: taking
out society’s
vengeance against
a defendant
Rehabilitation: help
defendant mend
his/her criminal
ways and
encourage to adopt
a lawful lifestyle



Deterrence: threat
of prison is in place
to deter people
from committing
crimes
Punishment: lock
up bad people to
punish and get off
our streets
Politics: “tough on
crime” campaigning
gets votes
History of Prison Systems in
the United States

Can be traced to 2 systems in the 19th
century
– New York’s Auburn Prison (1817)
– Eastern State Penitentiary @ Cherry Hill (1829)

Judge Morris Lasker
– How should society deal w/ people who violate
its rules and customs?


Punishment and sequestration of the offender in the
hope of deterring him and others from committing
futher offenses, or…
Redeeming the prodigal son so that, w/ a new set of
values, he will internalize conformity w/ society’s rules.
History of Executions in
the U.S.

Prior to 19th Century, hanging was the most
common method.
– Inexpensive and easily carried out
– Painful, often taking 20 minutes for death to
occur, and often resulted in decapitation


Long-drop introduced in late 19th century.
Hanging later fell out of favor in most
jurisdictions.
– Illegal Lynching-hanging that took place w/out
authority permission
– Delaware, New Hampshire, and Washington still
offer hanging as a method of execution.
History of Executions in
the U.S.

Electrocution
– New York 1888
– William Kemmler


1st man executed via electrocution (1890)
Firing Squad
– Utah 1854
– Nevada 1911

Lethal Gas
– Nevada 1921
– Seen as an improved method of execution
because did not disfigure or mutilate the body.
Abolishment of Execution

After WWII, many factors contributed
to a movement against the death
penalty.
– Atrocities witnessed during the war
– Civil Rights movement
– ACLU and NAACP attempts to appeal
death penalty cases
– Abolition of death penalty in a number of
Western countries
– Weakening in public support for the death
penalty.
Abolishment of Execution

Prior to 1920:
– Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota
abolish death penalty.

1950’s and 1960’s:
– 10 states abolish death penalty


Alaska, Hawaii, Delaware, Oregon, Iowa,
Michigan, West Virginia, Vermont, New York,
and New Mexico
By 1968, executions have ceased.
Cruel and Unusual
Punishment




1969 – Boykin v.
Alabama
1970 – Maxwell v.
Bishop
1971 – People v.
Anderson
1972 – Furman v.
Georgia

Reinstatement
– After Furman v.
Georgia
– 1976 – 35 states
enacted new death
penalty statutes
– July 2, 1976, Gregg
v. Georgia

Not Cruel and
Unusual
Some Federal Capital
Crimes

Homicide related crimes:
– 1st degree murder
– Genocide
– Retaliatory murder of a member of the immediate family
of law enforcement
– Murder…





Of a Federal judge or law enforcement official
During a kidnapping or hostage-taking
Of a court officer or juror
Related to rape or child molestation
Non-homicide crimes:
– Espionage
– Treason
– Drug trafficking in large quantities
Capital Punishment 2001
Stats

15 states and the Federal Government executed 66
prisoners during 2001.
–
–
–
–
–

Under sentence an average of 11yrs and 5 months.
63 men and 3 women
48 whites, 17 blacks, and 1 American Indian
Youngest death row inmate was 19 and oldest was 86.
All lethal injection
3,581 prisoners were on death row
– California (603), Texas (453), Flordia (372), and
Pennsylvania (241).
– 19 prisoners were on Federal death row
Capital Punishment 2002
Stats

71 persons executed in 13 states
– 53 white and 18 black
– 69 men and 2 women
– Lethal injection accounted for 70 of the
executions and 1 was carried out by
electrocution.

3,557 prisoners on death row
– All had committed murder.
Capital Punishment 2003
Stats

65 inmates were executed in 11 states and
the Federal system
– 41 were white, 20 black, 3 Hispanic, and 1
American Indian
– All 65 were men



47 women were on death row, but none executed
Lethal injection accounted for 64 of the
executions
1 execution was carried out by
electrocution.
– James Neil Tucker chose electrocution in South
Carolina and was executed on May 28, 2004.
More Execution Info

Last state execution
– November 4, 2004
– Robert Morrow, white male, age 47
– Crime

On April 3, 1996, Morrow abducted and murdered a 21-year old
white female.
– Texas by Lethal Injection
– Robert Morrow

Last federal execution
– March 18,2003
– Louis Jones, black male, decorated Gulf War veteran
– Crime


Links:
Kidnap/Murder of young white female soldier, Pvt. Tracie Joy McBride
– Federal Death Row Prisoners 2004
– United States Executions 2004
State Methods of
Execution

Lethal Injection
– Used my almost all states and also most frequently used
method

Electrocution
– Still offered by 9 states as an option

Lethal Gas
– Still offered by Arizona, California, Missouri, and Wyoming
as an option

Hanging
– Still offered by Delaware, New Hampshire, and
Washington as an option

Firing Squad
– Still offered by Idaho, Oklahoma, and Utah as an option
Since 1977…

Three inmates have been executed by
hanging.
– 2 in Washington and 1 in Delaware
– The last hanging was in 1996 in Delaware.

Two inmates have been executed by firing
squad.
– Both took place in Utah, and the last was in
1996.

Nine inmates have been executed by lethal
gas
– The last taking place in North Carolina in 1994.
This map shows the various types of execution methods used in the United States.
Why is it an Issue?







Cost
Executions as Entertainment
Violence on Television
Botched Executions
We are Killing in Our Name
Deterrence
First Amendment Rights
Both Sides Confused


Supporters of death penalty oppose
public executions for fear of arousing
sympathy, make public forget the
crimes commited
Opponents believe the quick TV death
would convey that execution is quick
,in reality long years of mental anguish
spent on death row
Arguments Against…

Cost
– Both a financial and emotional cost
involved
– Financial : Executing an individual costs
twice what incarcerating an inmate
would, even more if made a media event
– Emotional : victims families not only now
dragged through court systems, but now
must be made to endure increased public
exposure
Executions as
Entertainment



Last U.S. public execution in 1920,
people crowded + watched
An event which people came to watch
for fun
Another example : Roman Gladiators
Violence on Television


Many studies have been conducted to
show the affects of violence on
television
Huesmann (1982)
– “Children create and store in their
memories problem-solving algorithms
that are based in part on observation of
others’ behavior.”
Bobo Doll Study




Bandura conducted study, 72 children
participated
Children placed in room with adult who both
physically and verbally abused an inflated
Bobo dolls
When placed in a room alone, after being
frustrated by not being allowed to play with
toys, children who observed adults showing
violence were much more likely to imitate
their actions
Both physical and verbal abuse on the dolls
Teaching Violence

Our culture tries to teach our youth that violence is not an
answer

Public executions would show that we approve of meeting
violence with violence


Numerous experimental studies, many static observational
studies, and a few longitudinal studies all indicate that
exposure to dramatic violence on TV is related to violent
behavior
Exposure to violence in mass media could cause both short
and long term increases in a child’s aggressive and violent
behavior (Berkowitz, Eron)
Botched Executions

Some believe that executions should not be
televised because something may go wrong.
– April 22, 1983. Alabama. John Evans. After the first
jolt of electricity, sparks and flames erupted from
the electrode attached to his leg. The electrode
then burst from the strap holding it in place and
caught on fire. Smoke and sparks came out from
under the hood. Two physicians entered the
chamber and found a heartbeat. The electrode was
reattached to his leg. More smoke and burning
flesh. Again doctors found a heartbeat. Ignoring
the pleas of Evan's lawyer, Russ Canan (202-2927676), a third jolt was applied. The execution took
14 minutes and left Evan's body charred and
smoldering.
Botched Executions

Sept. 2, 1983. Mississippi. Jimmy Lee Gray.
Officials had to clear the
room eight minutes after the gas was
released when Gray's desperate gasps
for air repulsed witnesses. His attorney,
Dennis Balske of Montgomery,
Alabama, criticized state officials for clearing
the room when the inmate
was still alive. Says David Bruck, "Jimmy Lee
Gray died banging his head
against a steel pole in the gas chamber while
reporters counted his moans
(eleven, according to the Associated Press)"
Botched Executions


December 12, 1984. Georgia. Alpha Otis
Stephens. After the first jolt of electricity
failed to kill him , Stephens struggled for
eight minutes before a second charge
finished the job. The first jolt took two
minutes, and there was a six minute pause so
his body could cool before physicians could
examine him (and declare that another jolt
was needed.) During that
six-minute interval, Stephens took 23
breaths.
March 13, 1985. Texas. Stephen Peter Morin.
Had to probe both arms and legs with
needles for 45 minutes before they found the
vein.
Not What You Expect





Many family members who watch
executions leave feeling let down.
Executions are now clean, sterile,
quick
As quoted from a grandmother who
watched Timothy McVeigh die
“It was so quick and so sterile and so
serene, it left me feeling angry”
Many don’t find the closure which they
expect
Well-Publicized
Executions

Most studies have found no effect in
decline of homicides after well
publicized executions, while some
discover homicides increase after the
execution.
– Known as brutalization effect.

Effect of desensitizing people to the
immorality of killing, increasing
likelihood that some individuals will
make decision to kill.
Arguments For..

Capital punishment is by nature public.
– It is killing by the state. Executions are
done in our name.
– Public executions allow society to take
responsibility and acknowledge this.

Capital punishment is now an easily
ignored act and just a matter of
administration.
Let’s us off the hook.
Out of sight, out of mind?

If the death penalty is legal then why
hide it? Why be ashamed?
– It is the legal and just way society
responds to murder.
Albert Camus author of Reflections on
the Guillotine:
“One must kill publicly or confess that
one does not feel authorized to kill.”

How is it different?

It is no worse than what has already
been aired:
– Film of JFK assassination
– Tape of Jack Kevorkian injection Thomas
Youk airing on “60 minutes” in 1998
– Live murder of Lee Harvey Oswald by
Jack Ruby on live TV Nov. 24th, 1963
Deterrence …

The most effective way to promote
these are to make the execution
public.
– Maximize the level of deterrence

Deterrence is only as good as the
degree to which it is publicized.
Why the other side
advocates publicity…


Opponents of the death penalty
support public executions and believe
that if it were made public it would not
survive.
It would force the system to justify
each execution if done publicly.
– Must weigh out and evaluate every
aspect

Done both by the public and administration

It would raise questions regarding the
merit and terms of the death penalty:
– Why is a black man who kills a white man
executed more often?

Before America decided to abolish it,
the death penalty would become more
humane.
– Authorities could not afford a botched
execution.
First Amendment Issues

It is the public’s right to know governmental
proceedings, especially executions.
– Capital punishment is the most severe form of
punishment in our laws.

American’s can make up their mind on the
capital punishment if given real knowledge
and evidence. (Understand true workings of
capital punishment)
– This freedom of information keeps democracies
healthy.


This is why the First Amendment is so important.
Media discrimination: pen/paper vs. camera
U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Ninth Circuit (2002)


The court struck down a Californian
administrative rule which forbids the public
viewing of the initial process of an
execution. (California First Amendment
Coalition v. Woodford)
The court ruled that the First Amendment
right which allows access to governmental
proceedings outweighs the state’s concern
for the security of the execution staff.
Two Rationales:
First Rational:
 Eighth Amendment (Cruel & Unusual
Punishment) interpretation:
– The constitutionality for the death penalty
depends on whether or not it is in accordance
with…


“the evolving standards of decency which mark the
progress of a maturing society”
Therefore, citizens must evaluate whether
or not lethal injection (for example) is a
“standard of decency.”

In order to do this, the court stated
that citizens must have full access to
the process and method of the death
penalty.
– Allows citizens to make a meaningful
assessment which in turn the courts can
rely on to interpret the Eighth
Amendment.
Second Rationale:
 Public viewing promotes a communal
expression of moral outrage.
Our Position

We believe that executions should be
televised based on the fact that if we,
as America, continue to use the death
penalty we should not feel ashamed
and hide the act from the public eye.
Resources

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www.ojp.usjoj.gov
www.fcc.state.fl.us./fcc/reports/methods/emushist.
html
www.deathpenaltyinfo.org
http://usgovinfo.about.com
www.nolo.com/lawcenter.com
www.penalrehab.org
http://people.howstuffworks.com/lethalinjection5.htm
Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin - Capital
Punishment 2001, 2002, and 2003