CRJU 312 Lecture Notes - Lecture 24: Gas Chamber, Arbitrariness, Irreversible Process

• School: USC, SC, Carolina, South Carolina
• Department: Criminology and Criminal Justice
• Course: CRJU 312
• Professor: Heather Ouellette

Document Summary

The death penalty is an emotionally charged issue. In the past, the death penalty has included elaborate methods to inflict pain: example 1: offenders in asia were sewn into a bag with poisonous reptiles, e(cid:454)a(cid:373)ple 2: middle ages e(cid:454)e(cid:272)utio(cid:374)s (cid:449)ere (cid:858)gala(cid:859) e(cid:448)e(cid:374)ts. Function of death penalty was twofold: specific deterrence, general deterrence. Technological advancements altered the delivery of the death penalty: the guillotine made death quicker and more efficient. Electric chair and lethal injection: more humane, streamline, social and psychological distance. California has the most prisoners on death row (741) since 2000. Texas carried out the most executions (13) one year. 30 states have capital statues: 5 methods of execution- lethal injection are the most common form of execution today (gas chamber, electrocution, lethal injection, hanging, firing squad) Furman v. georgia (1972: supreme court ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional as administered. Gregg v. georgia (1976: proponents of the death penalty adopted a two-stage trial procedure.