Exam 17: The Death Penalty

When it comes to the financial cost of the death penalty, the following statement is NOT true:

The purpose of the death penalty is seen as deterrence. However, many studies in the United States, as well as in other countries, have found _____ evidence to support the idea that capital punishment deters murderers. Moreover, there is research showing that the frequency of murders _____ after executions, especially after highly publicized executions.

The definition of aggravated murder punishable by death _____ across jurisdictions.

Regarding racial discrimination in capital sentencing, Ellsworth and Mauro (1998) stated that "a person denied housing or employment has _____ protection from racial discrimination than a person whose life is at stake."

Research by Lynch and Haney (2000), using identical cases but varying the race of the victim and the offender, has found the following: when the defendant was black and the victim was white, _____ percentage of mock jurors recommended the sentence of death, compared to when the defendant was white and the victim was black. This finding only applied to those mock jurors who _____.

Potential jurors excluded during the process of death qualification because of their opposition to the death penalty are more likely to be:

A study tracked jurors' emotions during a capital penalty trial. Researchers found that the more intense a juror's _____, the _____ likely that juror was to vote for death.

In terms of frequency, it is noted in the text that _____ of murderers are executed in the United States.

Discuss racial disparities with regard to the death penalty.

A defendant is deemed "guilty" or "not guilty" during _____ of a capital murder trial.

Research on possible errors in death penalty cases has examined every capital case in the United States over a 22-year period (Liebman et al., 2000). It was found that 68% of death sentences were reversed because of serious errors at trial. All of the following were found to be the sources of these errors, EXCEPT:

Maintaining the death penalty is _____ than abandoning it. The costs of the death penalty are _____ if the defendant is eventually sentenced to life in prison.

Many countries refuse to _____ in protest of the death penalty.

Most democratic countries consider the death penalty to be a violation of basic human rights. Among the countries that do execute their own people, all of the following countries are "leaders" in the number of executions, EXCEPT:

In the parts of the world that still recognize the death penalty, the methods of execution often include hanging and shooting, as well as:

Liebman, Fagan, and West (2000) examined every capital case in the United States over a 22-year period and found that _____ of death sentences were reversed because of serious errors at trial, with the most frequent cause of errors being _____.

Generally, Americans _____ the death penalty. However, when asked to compare it with life without parole, _____ prefer punishment other than the death penalty.

In Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008), the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty should not be applied to rapists, even to child rapists, unless:

Three of the four forms of execution below are only used in the United States. Which one is used in other countries that administer the death penalty?

Different factors come into play during the sentencing phase of a homicide case when it is decided whether the sentence should be death or life in prison with no hope of parole. Circumstances that support the death sentence are called: