The Death Penalty

1. The Death Penalty Sarah Bibbey September 28, 2011

2. How many states have the Death Penalty and how many do not? • There are 34 states that have the Death Penalty. • Also the U.S. Gov’t , and U.S. Military have the Death Penalty. • 16 states do not have the Death Penalty. • Also the Dist. of Columbia does not have the Death Penalty.

3. Highest rates for the Death Penalty • Total Number of Death Row Inmates as of January 1, 2011: was 3,251. • The 3 highest states with inmates on Death Row are California with 721, Florida with 398, and Texas with 321. • The lowest states were Montana with 2, New Mexico with 2, Wyoming with 1, and New Hampshire with 1.

4. Characteristics a crime must have in order to receive the Death Penalty • It must be a felony in a state that uses the death penalty. • Mostly used with serial killers. • Murder is the most common crime punished by death, but most of the cases are just sentenced to life in prison.

5. Current and previous methods of putting the guilty to death • The electric chair • Lethal injection • Gas Chamber • Hanging • Firing squad • Guillotine

6. States that had the Death Penalty but now don’t have the Death Penalty • In 2007 New Jersey became the first state to repeal the death penalty in the modern system of capital punishment. • Followed by New Mexico in 2009. • The last state to stop using the Death Penalty was Illinois in 2011.

7. Statistics regarding use of the Death Penalty in the last decade • In 1996, those states which had the death penalty had an average murder rate of 7.1 per 100,000 population; those states which do not execute people had a homicide rate of 3.6. • From 1976 to 1996, the number of executions per year in the United States has increased from 0 to just under 60. The homicide rate per 100,000 population has remained constant at just under 10. • 67% of U.S. police chiefs do not believe that the death penalty significantly reduces the numbers of murders.

8. Corresponding shift in crime rates?

9. Minorities on death row • RACE: Black = 26; White = 23; Latino = 8; Native American = 1 GENDER: Males = 56; Females = 2 T0TAL = 58 • Since the reinstatement of the federal death penalty in 1988, 69 defendants have been sentenced to death of whom 3 have been executed and 8 have had their death sentence removed.  Three other defendants have had a jury recommendation death, but no death sentence by the judge.  Two of those 3 have now received lesser sentences. The third (John Wayne Johnson) has not been sentenced and is not on death row.

10. Court Cases for those Persons with mental disabilities. • Manny Babbitt was executed on May 4, 1999 in California.Babbitt served in the Vietnam War and suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after returning home. He said he did not remember killing 78-year-old Leah Schendel. • Alexander Williams, Georgia, 2002Granted by Gov. Roy Barnes.  The Board of Pardons and Paroles voted to commute Williams's sentence to life without parole because he suffered from mental illness and was a juvenile at the time of the crime. • An emerging death penalty issue was identified by the American Bar Association in 2006 when it unanimously passed a resolution calling for an exemption from the death penalty for people whose severe mental illness may have led to there crime.

11. Video • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dlH90veotI

12. My Opinion My opinion of the Death Penalty is that it can be useful but it will hurt the family of whoever is put to death. It can also be bad if they convict the wrong person but don’t find out until after they have been executed. I think that only serial killers should be put to death. Also, I think that if a person with a mental disability kills someone, they should have a fair trial but not be sentenced to death unless they tortured, raped or killed multiple people. I mostly feel that they should repeal the Death Penalty.

13. Sources • YouTube • Wikipedia • Death Penalty Info. com

14. QUESTIONS!! YOU MAY ASK BUT BEWARE Jason and Freddy might just… GET YOU TO NIGHT!!