The Death Penalty

1. The Death Penalty By: Alexa Marsicek

2. History of the Death Penalty • Eighteenth century B.C. • First established death penalty laws • 1834 A.D. • Pennsylvania becomes the first state to move executions into correctional facilities • 1907-1917 • Nine states eliminate the death penalty for all crimes or strictly limit it. • 1930’s • Executions reach the highest levels in American history-average 167 per year • 1977 • Oklahoma becomes the first state to adopt lethal injection • 1986 • Banning of the execution of insane persons • 1989 • Eighth Amendment does not prohibit the death penalty for crimes committed at age sixteen or seventeen • 2005 • The United States Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty for those who had committed crimes under 18 years of age is a cruel and unusual punishment.

3. Methods of Execution Hanging Electrocution Lethal Gas LethalInjection

4. Hanging • Short Drop • The prisoner usually was hung from a tree • Was usually carried out in public • Suspension Hanging • Have hydraulic mechanisms for raising the prisoners • Standard Drop • Drop between 4 and 5 feet • Many still died by strangulation • Some were knocked unconscious • Long Drop or Measured Drop • Designed to break the prisoner’s neck at a pre-determined distance • Removed most of the prisoner’s physical suffering • Determined by the prisoner’s weight

5. Electrocution • First electric chair designed in 1888 • Martha Place was the first woman to die in the electric chair • Second most common method of execution • Usually there are two shocks given and it lasts about 2 minutes and 10 seconds • Leather belts are strapped across the prisoner and a leather face mask is put on • 10 electrocutions in the 21st century

6. Lethal Injection • December 7th 1982-first lethal injection • Steps for execution… • Strapped to a gurney • Two catheters inserted into two veins on each arm • Flushed with Heparin solution • Three different chemicals are injected into each vein • Sodium thiopental • Pancuronium bromide • Potassium chloride • Takes about 3-5 minutes for the prisoner to die

7. Lethal Gas • Originally proposed by Dr. Allen McLean Hamilton • Hydrogen cyanide gas is released into the chamber to kill the prisoner • The prisoners die from hypoxia • The effects of breathing this in are… • Spasms • Inability to breathe • Pain and extreme anxiety • Loss of consciousness after 1-3 minutes • Death • It takes an average of 9.3 minutes for the prisoner to die

8. The Debate of the Death Penalty Pros Cons • Lower crime rates • Lowers cost of prison population upkeep • Saves lives • Murder • Mistaken convictions • Inhumane • Expensive

9. The Death Penalty By: Alexa Marsicek

10. Works Cited http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/hanging.html http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/gascham.html http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/injection.html http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/chair.html http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1020/p02s04-usju.html http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/OrnellasPaper.htm http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/execution/readings/history.html http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/us/18deter.html Willing, Richard. “Foes of Death Penalty Rising: Activists Gaining Unlikely Allies in…” USA Today (Feb. 1999) Shapiro, Joseph. “The Wrong Men on Death Row.” U.S. News & World Report (Nov. 1998)