Death Penalty Test 3
How many death row inmates have ever escaped from prison?
19
Have any Furman-commuted death row inmates been returned to death row after killing again?
1; Kenneth McDuff
In an analysis of nearly 4,000 New York Times stories about capital punishment published from 1960 through 2005, how many stories mentioned cost on either side of the debate?
20
In the case of a claim of innocence based on new evidence, Virginia has the shortest deadline in the U.S. How long does Virginia give a defendant to make a claim of innocence following conviction?
21 days following conviction
According to Bedau and Radelet, how many people were wrongfully executed for capital crimes in the United States in the 20th century?
23
By 2005, what percent of the 589 Furman-commuted death row inmates released from prison were returned to prison?
24%
How many pardons were granted to condemned inmates between 1973 and 2011?
250
How many jurisdictions have statutory provisions for compensating/indemnifying the wrongly convicted (in capital and non-capital cases)?
27 plus District of Columbia and federal gov't
Currently, how many death penalty jurisdictions have LWOP?
34 plus the federal government and the military
How many death penalty states have adopted minimum guidelines or standards or created an agency to promulgate standards for the appointment of counsel at either the trial or appellate level or both in capital cases?
35
How many of the 95 deterrence studies reviewed by Economics Professor Bijou Yang and Psychology Professor David Lester found a brutalization effect of capital punishment?
35
According to a recent national opinion poll, approximately what percent of supporters of capital punishment selected "Saves taxpayers money" as the first or second most important reason for their support?
4.1%
According to Bedau and Radelet, how many people were wrongfully convicted of capital crimes in the United States in the 20th century?
416
According to a 2010 national opinion poll, what percent of respondents thought that the death penalty could deter crime?
45%
How many federal prison officials were murdered during the 1980s when the federal death penalty was suspended?
5
According to M. Watt Espy, Jr, approximately what percent of those persons executed in the United States since 1608 have been innocent of the crimes for which they were executed?
5% or 950 people
How many jurisdictions have provisions for granting clemency?
52 (States + Federal + Military)
In what percent of the cases studied in a 2004 Chicago Tribune investigation of 200 DNA and death row exonerations nationwide between 1984 and 2004 was original forensic testing or testimony flawed?
55 cases with 66 defendants (more than 25% of the cases studied)
By 2005, how many of the 589 Furman-commuted death row inmates released from prison likely killed again?
6
How many of the 95 deterrence studies reviewed by Economics Professor Bijou Yang and Psychology Professor David Lester found a deterrent effect of capital punishment?
60
According to the Liebman study, approximately what percent of the fully reviewed state death sentences imposed between 1973 and 1995 were reversed at one of the appeal stages because of serious or prejudicial errors?
66% ; two-thirds
According to the Liebman study, in what percent of the reversals by state post-conviction courts was the defendant found to be innocent of the capital crime?
7%
According to the Liebman study, in approximately what percent of the reversals by state post-conviction courts did the defendant deserve a sentence other than death when the errors were cured on retrial?
82%
According to a 2008 national opinion poll, what percent of respondents chose deterrence as their most important reason for supporting the death penalty?
9.7%
According to the evidence, what percent of convicted capital offenders probably will not kill again?
98%
According to recent studies of life-sentenced Texas, federal Bureau of Prisons, and Florida capital murder defendants, what factor was the most influential predictor of prison violence?
Age
According to Professor Bowers, how might executions stimulate homicides?
Because executions demonstrate that it is correct and appropriate to kill those who have gravely offended us. Therefore the message of the execution may be lethal vengeance, not deterrence
According to a study conducted in Florida during the spring of 2009, approximately what percent of respondents believed that between 2 and 20 percent of all capital defendants have been wrongfully convicted?
More than 87%
In a study that compared innocent capital defendants who were eventually exonerated and released from death row and innocent capital defendants who were later executed, defendants with private lawyers at trial were how many times more likely to be exonerated and released from death row than defendants with court-appointed attorneys?
Nine
Do prosecutors have a legal obligation to release crime evidence for DNA analysis once a trial has been concluded so that a convicted defendant can prove his or her innocence?
No
Does research show that the death penalty has a marginal deterrent effect?
No
Have "super due process" protections made a difference in the incidence of wrongful convictions in capital cases?
No
What do studies show about changes in murder rates before and after abolition and/or reinstatement of the death penalty?
No apparent deterrent effect for capital punishment
According to police statistics reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and execution records from the National Bureau of Prisons, what percent of criminal homicides per year have resulted in executions since 1930?
No more than 2%
In a study of 381 murder convictions since 1963 that were reversed because of police or prosecutor misconduct, how many prosecutors who broke the law were convicted or disbarred for their misconduct?
None
In the twentieth century, how many government officials in the United States admitted to being involved in the execution of an innocent person?
None
What do decades of research show about the reliability of eyewitnesses?
Not very good, especially under stress and/or identifying opposite race
How many people may have been executed in error in the United States since 1976 and the implementation of "super due process?"
One
For what type of error and condition will appellate courts reverse convictions and sentences?
Only for serious or prejudicial errors that have been properly preserved
Which stage is generally considered the most expensive part of the entire death penalty process?
Post-Trial Costs
What does research show about the safety of prison staff members and inmates in prisons in death penalty states and prisons in abolition states?
Prison staff members and inmates are no safer in prisons in death penalty states than in prisons in abolition states
What do LWOP inmates have to "loose" if they kill or commit other infractions in prison?
Privileges; including visits from family and friends; access to mail and the telephone; being able to buy items from the commissary; being able to take educational vocational classes; being able to participate in recreational activities; they can also be places in solitary confinement
Who are the most powerful people in the capital punishment process?
Prosecutors
Compared to other parts of the death penalty process, how expensive is it to put people to death?
Relatively inexpensive, regardless of method
What is the most common type of clemency employed in capital cases?
Reprieve
Assuming an LWOP sentence is the result of a successful plea bargain and an inmate sentenced to LWOP lives 31 years, what is the approximate cost of an LWOP sentence?
Roughly $1 million
What does research reveal about murder rates following a highly publicized execution?
Some of these studies reveal a short-term deterrent effect, but in no case does the decrease in homicides last very long. Replications and reanalyzes of these studies tend to show brutalizing, rather than deterrent, effects of execution publicity
In what 1984 case did the Supreme Court provide guidelines as to when counsel may become ineffective?
Strickland v. Washington
What is used as evidence or an explanation of the so-called brutalizing or counter-deterrent effect of the death penalty?
Suicide-murder syndrome (killing somebody in order to get the state to kill you; may occur after failed suicide attempts); the executioner syndrome (killing performs a public service); and the pathological desire to die by execution
What did a recent survey of 67 current and past presidents of the top three criminology professional organizations—the American Society of Criminology, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and the Law and Society Association—find about the death penalty and the deterrence of homicide?
That about 80% of them believe that the death penalty is no greater a deterrent to homicide than long imprisonment
What did a recent study find about capital murderers sentenced to LWOP compared to death-sentenced inmates or other murderers sentenced to terms of imprisonment regarding their threat to other prisoners and correctional staff?
That capital murderers sentenced to LWOP were no greater threat to other prisoners or correctional staff than death-sentenced inmates or other murderers sentenced to terms of imprisonment
What did a 1990 National Law Journal study find about legal representation of poor capital defendants in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas?
That criminal defendants often wound up on death row after being represented by inexperienced, unskilled, or unprepared court-appointed lawyers
What was unusual about Stanley "Tookie" Williams?
That he had successfully rehabilitated and even was nominated for the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for his series of children's books and his international peace efforts; he had been convicted in 1981 for killing four people; However, he was still executed even after receiving a Presidential call to service award from President Bush in 2005
What does Professor Zimring and his colleagues' comparative study show about execution and homicide rates in Singapore and Hong Kong?
That neither the surge in Singapore's execution rate nor the steep decline in its execution rate affected Singapore's homicide rate. Nor, for that matter, did the absence of executions in Hong Kong affect the city's homicide rate. If executions were a deterrent to homicide, one might expect to see evidence of that effect in the "world execution capital" but one does not
What did Professor Sellin find regarding the availability of capital punishment and the rate of police killings?
That the availability of capital punishment did not have a discernible effect on the rate of police killings
What do most police chiefs believe about the death penalty and violent crime?
That the death penalty is not an effective deterrent to violent crime
What did Economics Professor Joanna Shepherd report in her testimony before Congress in 2003?
That there is a "strong consensus among economists that capital punishment deters crime" and that "the studies are unanimous." Also that those who report the complete opposite are using older papers and studies that use outdated statistical techniques or older date, but that all modern economic studies in the past decade had found a deterrent effect
What does research show about states with and without capital punishment and their homicide rates?
That there was no persuasive evidence of deterrence in those states with capital punishment when compared to those without it
What did a Texas study by the Governor's judicial council find about murderers with court-appointed attorneys compared to murderers who were represented by private lawyers?
That three-quarters of murderers with court-appointed attorneys were sentenced to death, while only about a third of those represented by private lawyers were so sentenced
What is frequently the most expensive part of the pretrial process in death penalty cases?
The motions filed in death penalty cases (which, at a minimum, create and preserve the defendant's record for appeal)
What do prosecutors do in some death-eligible cases rather than incur the expense?
They avoid capital trials rather than incur the expense
What did the American Society of Criminology do about the death penalty in 1989, and why did it do it?
They passed a resolution condemning capital punishment and calling for its abolition. They did that due to the absence of "consistent evidence of crime deterrence through execution."
How much longer is the investigation of potentially capital crimes compared to the investigation of other felonies, and why?
Three to five times longer than for other felonies because the prosecution as well as the defense must prepare for both stages of the bifurcated trail- the guilt and penalty phase
What must a capital defendant making a claim of ineffective counsel demonstrate?
To obtain relief due to ineffective assistance of counsel, a criminal defendant must show that counsel's performance fell below an objective standard of reasonableness and that counsel's deficient performance gives rise to a reasonable probability that, if counsel had performed adequately, the result of the proceeding would have been different
As of 2010, how many death penalty states gave inmates the right to use the latest DNA testing?
Two
How many attorneys are required for capital defendants in many states?
Two
In a recent study of 88 cases under post-Furman statutes (through December 31, 2000) in which people were completely exonerated of crimes for which they were sentenced to die, what type of prosecutor misconduct occurred most frequently?
Withholding exculpatory evidence
What was the foremost cause of wrongful convictions in capital cases found by Bedau and Radelet and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University Law School?
Witness perjury
Are prosecutors protected from civil suits when they knowingly allow perjured testimony or deliberately conceal evidence of innocence?
Yes
Do the laws of most death penalty jurisdictions permit elderly death row inmates to be housed in geriatric facilities inside prisons or placed in "end of life" programs?
Yes
Do victims of miscarriages of justice in capital cases frequently receive indemnity from the state that wrongfully convicted them?
Yes
Does the federal government require legal representation for capital defendants pursuing federal habeas corpus appeals?
Yes
Have attorneys who have slept through capital trials been considered "not ineffective?"
Yes
Have some judges appointed lawyers licensed to practice law to represent a capital defendant, even if the lawyer's practice was limited mostly to real estate or divorce law?
Yes
According to the available evidence, what is the average cost per execution in the United States (that is, the entire process in 2000 dollars)?
$2.5 million to $5 million
According to a recent study of life-sentenced Texas capital murder defendants, approximately what percent of them are likely to commit a repeat murder over a 40-year period?
0.2%
Approximately how much did the state of Florida reportedly spend to execute serial murderer Ted Bundy in 1989?
$10 million
According to a recent estimate, how much does the death penalty cost California taxpayers annually, and what would it approximately cost California taxpayers annually for a comparable system that sentenced inmates to LWOP instead of death?
$137 million; as compared to only $11.5 million it would approximately cost California taxpayers annually for a comparable system that sentenced inmates to LWOP instead of death
Approximately what percent of murders and non-negligent manslaughters are currently believed to be capital crimes or death-eligible?
10-25%
In a recent national opinion poll, approximately what percent of supporters of capital punishment chose incapacitation--" To keep the offender from reoffending "--as the most important reason for their support?
12.7%
In Strickland v. Washington, why did the Court refuse to adopt performance guidelines for evaluating counsel in capital cases?
Because it stated that the purpose of the effective assistance guarantee was "not to improve the quality of legal representation"; second the court opined that "no particular set of detailed rules for counsel's conduct can satisfactorily take account of the variety of circumstances faced by defense counsel or the range of legitimate decisions regarding how best to represent a criminal defendant."; Third, the court was concerned that the adoption of specific standards would encourage ineffectiveness claims, which would discourage many attorneys from representing defendants in capital cases
Why will the costs of a death sentence probably always be more expensive than the costs of an LWOP sentence?
Because super due process is required only in capital cases
In what case did the Supreme Court create the harmless error rule?
Chapman v. California
Of what are the enormous costs of capital punishment a product?
Cost of experts and the fact that capital punishment cases are bifurcated; doubling the cost
According to Gross, during which of the following stages do most errors in capital cases occur?
Critical Stage
What is the term used to describe the practice of crime lab technicians fabricating results to support police suspicions without ever testing the evidence?
Dry Labbing
What is a major problem in police investigations of capital crimes?
False Confessions
What are the ways that wrongfully convicted death row inmates may be compensated?
Filing a compensation claim, lawsuits, private legislation, or private donations
What process generally provides the final opportunity to consider whether a death sentence should be imposed?
Guilt and penalty phase of the trial
What are "opportunity costs" in the context of capital punishment?
Hidden costs such as the extra time district attorneys spend trying capital cases and the extra court time consumed by lengthy death trails
When was the death penalty first shown by sophisticated statistical methods to be a deterrent to murder, and who was the researcher?
In 1975, by professor Isaac Ehrlich
Has the average number of innocent death row inmates being released been increasing, decreasing, or remaining the same?
Increased
What type of offender is most likely to kill inside prisons?
Inmates convicted of robbery/not sentenced to death
According to Professor Baumgartner and his colleagues, what is the single most important factor in focusing the media's, and through the media, the public's attention on the issue of innocence?
Innocence projects which are affiliated with major universities and are staffed with student volunteers
How have capital trial costs affected some counties?
It forces counties that can't afford the costs to pick and choose among death-eligible cases, pursuing the death penalty in only some cases or not at all
What do many prosecutors and defense attorneys believe is the key element in a capital case?
Jury Selection
Approximately how much did the federal government reportedly spend to execute mass murderer Timothy McVeigh in 2001?
More than $100 million
How many death row inmates since 1976 have voluntarily given up their appeals because they preferred death to LWOP?
More than 100
