Deck 12: Other Issues, Trends, and the Future of the Death Penalty

Question 1

In what case did only four justices concur that retribution was an acceptable reason for the death penalty?

A) Gregg v. Georgia
B) Furman v. Georgia
C) Connick v. Thompson
D) None of the above

Answer 1

A

Question 2

What determines the outcome of capital sentencing determinations because it is explicitly or implicitly part of the determination of the presence of certain aggravating factors?

A) LWOP
B) Future dangerousness
C) The death penalty
D) All of the above

Answer 2

B

Question 3

According to the text, support for the death penalty has _________ over the last few decades.

A) Increased
B) Stayed the same
C) Declined
D) Gone up and down

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which Amendment is used to protect inmates from harm within correctional settings?

A) 14thAmendment
B) 6th Amendment
C) 16^th Amendment
D) 8th Amendment

Question 5

What researches found evidence of 23 innocent offenders executed between 1900 and 1990?

A) Gottfredson and Hirschi
B) Shaw and McKay
C) Bedau and Radelet
D) Vollum and Bohm

Question 6

A _________ is an order to stop the executions of capital offenders pending further investigation into the administration of the death penalty.

A) Moratorium
B) Death qualification
C) Stay of execution
D) Statute of limitations

Question 7

According to the text, __________ working on homicide cases should receive extensive training on matters such as risks of wrongful convictions, and investigation and interrogation methods?

A) Researchers
B) Police officers
C) Sheriffs
D) Medical examiners

Question 8

According to the text, which two penological justifications constitute the main reasons the death penalty has survived as a form of punishment in the United States?

A) Incapacitation and deterrence
B) Deterrence and retribution
C) Retribution and incapacitation
D) Deterrence and rehabilitation

Question 9

According to the text, for the death penalty to be an effective__________, it must be administered with swiftness and certainty

A) Rehabilitation technique
B) Process
C) Deterrent
D) Retribution

Question 10

What are common reasons for wrongful conviction?

A) "Jail house snitch" testimony
B) Police misconduct
C) Incompetent attorneys
D) All of the above

Question 11

Deterrence, which is a derivative of eighteenth-century classical criminology, is a sentencing goal or a crime prevention strategy that seeks to inhibit criminal behavior .

Question 12

According to the text, one scholar argues that jurors deliberate on the future dangerousness of an inmate prior to imposing a penalty of death, and thus incapacitation does enter jurors' determination of life versus death.

Question 13

The death qualification process asks prospective jurors to assume a guilty verdict in responding to questions about whether they could vote for a death sentence.

Question 14

Psychological tests have been relied on by the courts in the past to exonerate innocent offenders charged with sexual crimes; there has been a significant increase in the use of these tests in death penalty cases.

Question 15

Life imprisonment has been used as an alternative to the death penalty in many countries, including the United States.

Question 16

According to the text, among the three reasons for the continued use of the death penalty, retribution is the most controversial because the execution of a capital offender is justified on the basis that the offender deserves to die due to the crime committed.

Question 17

The Court has used the cruel and unusual provision to bar prison officials from using excessive force, corporal punishment, or bodily harm.

Question 18

The process of death qualification in jury selection has been found to predispose a jury toward a not-guilty verdict.

Question 19

Since Furman, there have been no more formal Court-ordered moratoriums on the death penalty. However, several state governors have issued such moratoriums due to errors discovered in the administration of the death penalty.

Question 20

While eliminating the death penalty was a trend for states in the 1990s, no states have eliminated the death penalty since 2003.