Chapter 13 death penalty

The Constitution clearly defines which punishments are "cruel and unusual."

False

Who was the first U.S. president to openly oppose the death penalty?

biden

The process of having a trial split between a guilty phase and a penalty phase is known as a ______ trial.

bifuricated

Early forms of which method of execution often resulted in suffocation?

hanging

Which of the following methods of executions was made more "humanized" in ensuring a quick death rather than a slow painful suffocation?

hanging

Countries with a low degree of individualist beliefs tend to support tougher punishments more than those without such beliefs.

false

Keeping someone in prison for life without the possibility of parole is far more expensive than the death penalty.

false

As a result of the Enlightenment, executions became more ______.

humanized

In which of the following cases was applying the death penalty for rape of a child determined to be unconstitutional?

kennedy v Louisiana

Which of the following would be considered aggravating evidence?

killing a police officer

The most recent major transformation in the death penalty came in the 1980s, with the first execution by ______.

lethal injection

Which method of execution involves the use of drugs to induce unconsciousness followed by paralysis and the stopping of the heart?

lethal injection

How does voir dire, the process of determining who will serve on a jury, differ for death penalty cases?

There are more peremptory challenges of prospective jurors in death penalty cases.

aggravating evidence

Evidence presented to a jury that makes a crime seem more severe. Juries can use this evidence to determine whether to recommend execution

Mitigating evidence

Evidence presented to a jury that attempts to limit the perceived severity of the crime.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the average time between sentencing and execution is how many years?

16 years

Furman v. Georgia

A 1972 Supreme Court ruling that argued that the death penalty (as it was then practiced) was too arbitrary to be constitutional.

Gregg v. Georgia

A 1976 Supreme Court ruling that reinstated the death penalty in the United States.

Which of the following individuals would likely support the death penalty?

A White man who wants stricter laws against non-White immigration

Guillotine

A device created in France to ensure a quick beheading.

death-qualified jury

A jury that could impose the death penalty if they found it appropriate.

Long drop

A method for hanging people that ensures a quick death by breaking the neck of the condemned.

Bifurcated trial

A trial that is split between a guilt phase (when the defendant is either convicted or acquitted) and a penalty phase when the jury decides whether or not to recommend the death penalty

Which of the following scenarios illustrates an execution in early history?

An offender is brought to the public square for execution by being sawed in half in front of others in the community.

Success resulting from the innocence projects looking at questionable convictions and resulting in innocent prisoners being released has stemmed mainly from examining which type of contemporary evidence?

DNA

Which Supreme Court cases determined that the death penalty as it was imposed in the United States was unconstitutional?

Furman v. Georgia

Innocence Project

Groups that research criminal convictions that they believe are wrong and should be overturned.

Why was President Trump's overseeing the execution of 17 prisoners during his tenure significant?

It ended a nearly twenty-year hiatus on federal executions.

Which of the following would be considered mitigating evidence?

Mitigating evidence

Limiting cases

Supreme Court cases that restrict the types of cases in which the death penalty can be applied.

American Individualism

The common belief that people are responsible for their own conduct, independent of external circumstances

Eigth Amendment

The constitutional amendment that bans "cruel and unusual punishment" (among other things).

Early use of the electric chair was supported by Thomas Edison.

True

In contrast to modern executions, historically the death penalty was extremely cheap.

True

Research suggests that death-qualified juries may be more likely to convict a defendant than other types of juries.

True

The Enlightenment affected the death penalty in a variety of ways.

True

People belonging to which racial group are most likely to support capital punishment?

WHITE

During the 20th century, ______ was developed as a more humane option than hanging.

electrocution

The Supreme Court has determined that the use of the death penalty is not cruel and unusual punishment due to which of the following?

evolving standards of decency

Lucia is accused of murdering her partner. She gathered her materials for weeks leading up to the murder, which came after years of abuse by the partner. Lucia claims she was attempting to protect their child from being abused, too. Which element of Lucia's case is an aggravating factor?

premeditation

Sociologists find there is a strong link between support for capital punishment and which of the following?

racial hostility

In Furman v. Georgia, the court ruled that what about the death penalty made it cruel and unusual?

randomness of its use

The use of public executions involving methods like flaying, sawing a person in half and cooking offenders alive illustrates that which of the following was a necessary part of executions?

suffering

According to recent polling, the majority of Americans support the death penalty.

true

Death row is a special section of a prison that is designed to hold people awaiting execution.

true

In Atkins v. Virginia the court concluded that those with mental illness are less capable of evaluating the consequences of their crimes, and therefore it is cruel and unusual punishment to execute them.

true

The United States is the only nation that has used the gas chamber as a form of criminal punishment.

true