1. Crime, Punishment and Debate on the Death Penalty

2. Crime, Punishment And the Creation of Order
How does society establish systems of order for the production of consent?

3. Argument
Capital punishment in the U.S. and elsewhere has been, and continues to an instrument for the production of consent and establishment of order.
In the U.S. capital punishment has resulted in violations of equal protection under the constitution.
In the U.S. capital punishment has had a disproportionate impact on non-whites.

4. Discipline and Punish
At first, discipline was invoked as a spectacle by Kingship to neutralize abnormal populations…. By the 19th century discipline was asked to play a more positive role primarily to increase the utility of individuals. It played this role through the modern prison.
Michel Foucault (1975)

5. Hogarth / Tyburn Gallows (1747)

6. Contemporary Execution

7. 8TH Amendment (1787)
“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”

8. 14TH Amendment (1868)
1) Due Process
2) Equal Protection

9. DEATH PENALTY IN U.S.
“Spectacle” eliminated and replaced with “retribution.”
Responses to crime in the U.S. have oscillated between poles of retribution and rehabilitation.
“Innocence frame” is weakening support for retribution as a response to crime.

10. Landmark Legal Cases Furman v. Georgia (408 U.S. 238 / 1972)
Held that death penalty statutes resulted in arbitrary sentencing violating constitutional protections
Gregg v. Georgia (428 U.S. 153 / 1976)
Enabled states to refashion death penalty statutes to conform to Constitution

11. McCleskey v. Kemp, Supreme Court (1987)
Warren McCleskey's 14th amendment claim was that “race had infected the administration of Georgia's statute in two ways: 1) persons who murder whites are more likely to be sentenced to death than persons who murder blacks, and 2) black murderers are more likely to be sentenced to death than white murderers.”
The Court said the "racially disproportionate impact" in the Georgia death penalty indicated by a comprehensive scientific study was not enough to overturn the guilty verdict without showing a "racially discriminatory purpose.“ The defense failed to show evidence of “conscious, deliberate bias,” Justice Lewis Powell wrote.
McCleskey has been used to illustrate the limitations of "equal protection of the laws" requiring more than a discriminatory effects. The Supreme Court generally requires, in addition to discriminatory effect, a discriminatory purpose.

12. Total # of U.S. Executions (1608-2002) 15,269 total

13. Historical Executions by Race (1608-2002) 15,269 Total Executions

16. https://priceonomics.com/why-has-texas-executed-so-many-inmates/

19. Death Penalty Disparity 17 States Without

20. Death Penalty as Deterrent

21. What Cases Go as Capital Cases?

22. RACE OF VICTIMS In Executions 1976 - 2006
WHITE (80%)
BLACK (14%)
HISPANIC (4%)
OTHER (2%)

23. RACE OF DISTRICT ATTORNEYS

28. THE EU AND CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
The European Union is opposed to the use of capital punishment under all circumstances and has consistently called for the universal abolition of this punishment…. We consider this punishment to be cruel and inhumane.

29. Top Execution Countries (2007-15)
6 Countries account
For 95% of Executions
1) China (63%)
2) Iran (23%)
3) S. Arabia (4.5%)
4) Iraq (4%)
5) Pakistan (3.3%)
6) US (2.1%)

32. Capital Punishment: A Social Movement

33. Catholic Church / “Thou shall not Kill”
“The commandment ‘Do not kill’ holds absolute value and applies to both the innocent and the guilty,… I propose to all who are Catholic to make a courageous and exemplary gesture: may no execution sentence be carried out in this Holy Year of Mercy.”
Pope Francis (March, 2016)

34. Exonerations by Year (1973-2017) (157 Total)

35. Race of Exonerations Race of Exonerations Defendent Black 81 (52%)
White (39%)
Latino (7.6%)
Other (1.2%)

36. Exonerations by State (157 Total) Florida and Illinois Lead

37. THE HUFFINGTON POST
The State With The Most Death Row Exonerations Wants To Speed Up Executions

38. “Rate of False Conviction of Defendants Sentenced to Death”
“We estimate that if all death-sentenced defendants remained under sentence of death indefinitely, at least 4.1% would be exonerated. We conclude that this is a conservative estimate of the proportion of false conviction among death sentences in the U.S.”
Samuel R. Gross, Barbara O’Brien, Chen Hu, and Edward H. Kennedy (2014)
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

39. Support for Death Penalty

40. Troy Davis
After a hearing on September 19, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles denied clemency to Troy Davis, despite presentation of testimony casting doubt on his guilt.  Davis's claims of innocence received international attention, and calls for clemency have been made by Pope Benedict XVI, former President Jimmy Carter, former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Norman Fletcher and others. Doubts about Davis's guilt were raised when some prosecution witnesses changed their stories after giving testimony against Davis, including accusations pointing to another suspect as the murderer of a police officer in Savannah. The Board heard testimony from a juror in Davis's original trial who now says she has too much doubt about his guilt and would change her verdict.  They also heard from a witness who originally testified against Davis, but recanted her testimony.  The Board held two previous clemency hearings for Davis, but the makeup of the Board had changed since he was denied clemency in 2008, and new testimony had been given at a federal court hearing in 2010.  Davis was executed late on September 21, 2011.

41. PERSONS EXECUTED FOR INTERRACIAL MURDERS IN THE U.S. SINCE 1976
White Defendant / Black Victim (15)
Black Defendant / White Victim (223)