1. Capital Punishment
Class 1

2. Administrative
Give quiz
Return quiz at end

3. Review Purposes of imprisonment – contradictions Prisons in History
Large U.S. prison population which was continuing to grow until recently despite dramatic decreases in crime

4. Today Purposes of Capital Punishment History of the Death Penalty
Courts and Capital Punishment
Death Penalty and Deterrence
Key Issues from Today’s Class

5. I. Purposes of Capital Punishment
What purposes does the death penalty serve?
Are there other ways to accomplish those purposes? Are the alternatives more or less effective than the death penalty?

6. II. History of the Death Penalty
Colonial Period
Late 18th century and the 19th century
20th and 21st centuries
Executioners

7. III. Courts and Capital Punishment
Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Furman v. Georgia (1972)
Responses of states

8. III. Courts and Capital Punishment
1976 cases
Coker v. Georgia (1977)
More recent cases

9. IV. The Death Penalty and Deterrence
Have already documented numerous convictions of innocent people
There have been numerous studies of deterrent effect of capital punishment
Results

10. V. Key Issues from Today’s Class
Not clear the death penalty is a good way to achieve the goals set for it
Court has never found the death penalty in and of itself to be unconstitutional – cruel and unusual
Little good evidence that the death penalty is a significant deterrent but lots of evidence we sometimes convict the wrong people

11. Next Time
Deterrence and Leniency