Descripciones mejoradas de Syndetics:

Capital punishment is a controversial issue which sparks debate among organizations and individuals across the United States. Increasingly in the US, this form of punishment has been used rarely and traditionally only in cases involving murder with intent. Historically in the US, the methods of execution and the crimes subject to the death penalty have varied by jurisdiction, definition and technique. This newest edition of The Law of Capital Punishment in the Legal Almanac Series offers a history and overview of capital punishment in the United States, including its abolition in 1972, and subsequent reappearance in 1976. Margaret Jasper discusses which crimes constitute Capital Punishment, both at a state and federal level. Jasper also explores the statistical application of the death penalty according to characteristics such as age, gender, and race are also examined.

Individuals form their opinions for and against capital punishment based on a number of factors which may include moral, practical, ethical and religious beliefs. The debate over the death penalty centers around many issues: whether it is morally correct to kill; whether the death penalty serves as a deterrent; whether it discriminates across racial, social, and economic classes; and whether mis- or improper conduct by authorities has led to the execution of innocent people. The complicated and often heated arguments have intensified over the years, and today, there remain strong views on both sides. In The Law of Capital Punishment, Jasper tackles these views and offers advice on legal representation, as well as qualifications of legal counsel. She provides readers with an introduction to this legal process and its effect on a community and its individual members, including statistical evidence, tables, and a current directory of death penalty abolitionist groups.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• About the Author(p. ix)
• Introduction(p. xiii)
• Chapter 1 History and Overview of Capital Punishment
• In General(p. 1)
• Religious View of Capital Punishment(p. 2)
• History of Capital Punishment in America(p. 3)
• Ban on the Death Penalty in the United States(p. 3)
• Reintroduction of the Death Penalty in the United States(p. 3)
• Chronology of the Death Penalty in America(p. 4)
• Present Application of the Death Penalty(p. 6)
• Death Penalty Jurisdictions(p. 6)
• Statistics(p. 6)
• Capital Offenses(p. 7)
• The Abolitionist Movement(p. 7)
• Public Opinion(p. 8)
• In General(p. 8)
• Financial Concerns: Weighing the Costs(p. 8)
• Life Imprisonment: A Less Costly Alternative(p. 9)
• Deterrence(p. 11)
• Suicide-by-Execution Syndrome(p. 12)
• The International Status of Capital Punishment(p. 12)
• In General(p. 12)
• The Trend Towards Abolishing the Death Penalty(p. 12)
• Countries That Have Abolished the Death Penalty for All Crimes(p. 13)
• "Exceptional Crimes" Death Penalty Countries(p. 13)
• "De Facto" Abolitionist Countries(p. 13)
• Countries That Practice the Death Penalty (Retentionist Countries)(p. 13)
• International Death Sentences and Executions(p. 14)
• International Agreements to Abolish the Death Penalty(p. 14)
• The Sixth Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights(p. 14)
• The Second Optional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to Abolish the Death Penalty(p. 14)
• The Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to Abolish the Death Penalty(p. 15)
• Juvenile Offenders and the Death Penalty(p. 15)
• The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child(p. 15)
• Chapter 2 Methods of Execution
• Early Methods of Execution(p. 17)
• Ling Chi: Death by a Thousand Cuts(p. 17)
• Hanging, Drawing, and Quartering(p. 17)
• Breaking on the Wheel(p. 18)
• Present-Day Methods of Execution(p. 18)
• In General(p. 18)
• Hanging(p. 18)
• Firing Squad(p. 19)
• Electrocution(p. 20)
• Lethal Gas(p. 21)
• Lethal Injection(p. 21)
• Baze v. Rees(p. 22)
• The Role of the Executioner(p. 23)
• Viewing the Execution(p. 23)
• In General(p. 23)
• Victim Witnesses(p. 24)
• Chapter 3 The Federal Death Penalty
• In General(p. 25)
• Methods of Execution(p. 26)
• The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 (The "Drug Kingpin" Statute)(p. 26)
• The Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994 (The "Crime Bill Expansion")(p. 27)
• Race and the Federal Death Penalty(p. 28)
• Procedure(p. 29)
• Authorization(p. 29)
• Right to Legal Representation(p. 29)
• Appeal(p. 29)
• Clemency(p. 29)
• Costs(p. 30)
• Prosecution(p. 30)
• Defense(p. 30)
• Native Americans(p. 30)
• U.S. Military(p. 30)
• History(p. 30)
• Demographics(p. 31)
• Prosecution(p. 31)
• The U.S. Disciplinary Barracks(p. 32)
• Execution Procedure(p. 33)
• Authorized Witnesses(p. 34)
• Chapter 4 Legal Representation
• In General(p. 37)
• Statistics(p. 37)
• State Prisoners(p. 37)
• Federal Prisoners(p. 38)
• Local Prisoners(p. 38)
• Qualifications and Competency(p. 38)
• U.S. Supreme Court Cases(p. 39)
• Strickland v. Washington(p. 39)
• Deficient Performance of Counsel(p. 40)
• Deficient Performance Prejudiced Defendant's Right to Fair Trial(p. 40)
• Williams v. Taylor(p. 40)
• Cockrell v. Burdine(p. 41)
• Bell v. Cone(p. 41)
• Wiggins v. Smith(p. 41)
• Florida v. Nixon(p. 42)
• Rompilla v. Beard(p. 42)
• The Adoption of Standards(p. 43)
• Alabama(p. 43)
• Nevada(p. 43)
• Texas(p. 43)
• Utah(p. 43)
• Indigent Defense Programs(p. 43)
• Public Defender Programs(p. 44)
• Assigned Counsel Programs(p. 44)
• The Ad Hoc Assigned Counsel Program(p. 44)
• The Coordinated Assigned Counsel Program(p. 44)
• Contract Attorney Programs(p. 44)
• The Federal Indigent Defense Program(p. 45)
• Chapter 5 Innocence
• In General(p. 47)
• Wrongful Conviction and Execution(p. 48)
• Contributing Factors(p. 48)
• Expansion of Capital Crimes(p. 48)
• Juror Bias(p. 48)
• Laboratory Mistakes(p. 48)
• Lack of Defense Funding(p. 48)
• Narrowing of Appellate Rights in Capital Cases(p. 49)
• Politics(p. 49)
• Unreliable Evidence(p. 49)
• Mistaken Eyewitness Testimony(p. 49)
• Unreliable Witnesses(p. 50)
• Unreliable Confessions(p. 50)
• DNA Access Laws(p. 50)
• The Justice For All Act of 2004(p. 51)
• Post-Conviction DNA Exonerations(p. 51)
• Recent Death Row Exoneration Cases(p. 52)
• Levon Jones(p. 52)
• Glen Edward Chapman(p. 52)
• Kennedy Brewer(p. 53)
• Curtis McCarty(p. 53)
• Ryan Matthews(p. 53)
• Nicholas Yarris(p. 53)
• Ray Krone(p. 54)
• Charles Irvin Fain(p. 54)
• Frank Lee Smith(p. 54)
• Earl Washington(p. 54)
• Execution of Innocent Defendants(p. 55)
• Ruben Cantu(p. 55)
• Carlos DeLuna(p. 55)
• Gary Graham(p. 55)
• Larry Griffin(p. 55)
• Leonel Herrera(p. 55)
• Jesse Jacobs(p. 56)
• Leo Jones(p. 56)
• Robert Nelson(p. 56)
• Joseph O'Dell(p. 56)
• David Spence(p. 56)
• Cameron Willingham(p. 56)
• Compensation for Wrongful Incarceration(p. 57)
• Model Penal Code Recommendations(p. 57)
• Chapter 6 Demographics
• Race and the Death Penalty(p. 59)
• Statistics(p. 60)
• The Race of the Victim(p. 60)
• Women and the Death Penalty(p. 61)
• Statistics(p. 61)
• Executions(p. 61)
• Age and the Death Penalty(p. 62)
• Juvenile Offenders(p. 62)
• Thompson v. Oklahoma(p. 63)
• Stanford v. Kentucky(p. 63)
• Roper v. Simmons(p. 64)
• Execution of the Elderly(p. 64)
• Statistics(p. 65)
• Causes(p. 65)
• Clarence Ray Allen(p. 65)
• John B. Nixon, Sr.(p. 66)
• Chapter 7 Mental Disabilities and the Death Penalty
• In General(p. 67)
• Mental Retardation(p. 67)
• Mental Retardation Defined(p. 67)
• The Ban on Execution of the Mentally Retarded(p. 67)
• Atkins v. Virginia(p. 67)
• Retribution(p. 68)
• Deterrence(p. 68)
• Wrongful Execution(p. 69)
• The IQ Factor(p. 69)
• Mental Illness(p. 69)
• Mental Illness Defined(p. 69)
• Mental Disorders(p. 70)
• Bipolar Disorder(p. 70)
• Borderline Personality Disorder(p. 70)
• Brain Damage(p. 71)
• Depression(p. 71)
• Dissociative Disorder(p. 72)
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder(p. 72)
• Schizophrenia(p. 72)
• Extending the Atkins Ruling to the Mentally Ill(p. 72)
• Recent Executions Involving the Mentally Ill(p. 74)
• Troy Kunkle (Schizophrenia)(p. 74)
• Donald Beardslee (Severe Brain Damage)(p. 75)
• Charles Singleton (Schizophrenia)(p. 75)
• Kevin Zimmerman (Brain Injury)(p. 75)
• Hung Thanh Le (PTSD)(p. 76)
• Kelsey Patterson (Paranoid Schizophrenia)(p. 76)
• Robert Bryan (Paranoid Schizophrenia/Brain Disease)(p. 77)
• Stephen Vrabel (Paranoid Schizophrenia)(p. 77)
• Kevin Hocker (Bipolar Disorder)(p. 77)
• Mark Bailey (Bipolar Disorder)(p. 78)
• False Confessions and the Mentally Impaired(p. 78)
• Chapter 8 Sentence Review
• In General(p. 79)
• Automatic Review(p. 79)
• Federal Habeas Corpus Review of State Criminal Convictions(p. 80)
• In General(p. 80)
• Jurisdiction(p. 81)
• Case Processing Time(p. 81)
• Representation(p. 82)
• Types of Issues Raised in Habeas Corpus Petitions(p. 82)
• Dismissal of the Petition(p. 82)
• Clemency(p. 83)
• Authority to Grant Clemency(p. 83)
• Recent Cases(p. 84)
• John Spirko(p. 84)
• Jeffrey Leonard(p. 84)
• Michael Boyd(p. 84)
• Kenneth Foster(p. 84)
• Robin Lovitt(p. 84)
• Arthur P. Baird II(p. 85)
• Michael Daniels(p. 85)
• Broad Clemencies(p. 85)
• Appendices
• 1 The Florida Death Penalty Statute(p. 87)
• 2 Table of Number of Prisoners Executed in 2007, by State(p. 91)
• 3 Table of Number of Prisoners Under Sentence of Death (Federal/State) as of December 31, 2006(p. 95)
• 4 Table of Number of Prisoners Under Sentence of Death, by Year (1953-2006)(p. 99)
• 5 Table of Number of Executions (1930-2007)(p. 103)
• 6 Table of Capital Offenses, by State(p. 107)
• 7 Table of Federal Capital Offenses, by Statute(p. 111)
• 8 Directory of Death Penalty Abolitionist Organizations(p. 115)
• 9 Table of Comparison of Murder Rates in Death Penalty States with Murder Rates in Non-Death Penalty States (1990-2006)(p. 117)
• 10 Table of Execution Methods, by State(p. 119)
• 11 Table of Total Number of Executions, by State, and Methods of Execution (1976-2007)(p. 123)
• 12 Table of States That Have Adopted Qualification Standards for Attorneys Handling Capital Cases on Behalf of Indigent Defendants(p. 127)
• 13 Table of Death Row Prisoners Exonerated, by State(p. 135)
• 14 Table of Death Row Prisoners Exonerated, by Year(p. 137)
• 15 Table of Number of Prisoners Under Sentence of Death, by Race (1968-2006)(p. 139)
• 16 Table of Number of Women Prisoners Under Sentence of Death, by Race (Federal/State) (As of December 31, 2006)(p. 141)
• 17 Table of Number of Prisoners Under Sentence of Death, by Age (As of December 31, 2006)(p. 143)
• 18 Statutes Defining Mental Retardation for the Purpose of Imposition of the Death Penalty(p. 145)
• 19 Defendants with Mental Retardation Executed Since the Reinstatement of the Death Penalty(p. 155)
• 20 Directory of State Governors' Offices(p. 159)
• Glossary(p. 163)
• Bibliography and Additional Resources(p. 173)

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

MARGARET C. JASPER is an attorney engaged in the general practice of law in South Salem, New York, concentrating in the areas of personal injury and entertainment law. Ms. Jasper holds a Juris Doctor degree from Pace University School of Law, White Plains, New York, is a member of the New York and Connecticut bars, and is certified to practice before the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.