Deck 11: Retribution, Religion, and Capital Punishment

Question 1

According to recent public opinion polls, what is the number one reason for favoring the death penalty?

A) retribution
B) deterrence
C) incapacitation
D) cost
E) none of the above

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which one of Philosopher Cottingham's nine theories of retributive punishment is the one he argues captures the basic or fundamental notion of retribution?

A) desert theory
B) fair play theory
C) repayment theory
D) penalty theory
E) none of the above

Answer 2

C

Question 3

According to Professors Vidmar and Miller, which of the following is a principal source of retributive emotions?

A) the individual's attachment to the group
B) the internalization of group values
C) the perception of an offense as a threat to group values
D) the individual's effort to obtain social acceptance about the moral rightness of a violated rule
E) all of the above

Answer 3

E

Question 4

Which of the following models of the public's punitiveness did Professors Unnever and Cullen not describe in a recent study?

A) the crime-distrust model
B) the vindictive revenge model
C) the moral decline model
D) the racial animus model
E) they described all of the models above

Question 5

In a 2014 national opinion survey, approximately what percent of respondents chose retribution as their most important reason for supporting the death penalty?

A) 4
B) 12
C) 21
D) 49
E) 56

Question 6

In what year did the printed mass media first describe "closure" as a major objective of the death penalty?

A) 1875
B) 1919
C) 1941
D) 1966
E) 1989

Question 7

Which of the following is a reason why some family members do not want their relative's killer executed?

A) because of a general opposition to the death penalty
B) because an execution would diminish or belittle the memory of their relative
C) because of a desire to avoid the prolonged contact with the criminal justice system that the death penalty requires
D) because of a desire to avoid the public attention an impending execution bestows on the condemned prisoner
E) all of the above are reasons

Question 8

Which of the following is a way that families of death row or executed inmates are different from the families of victims of any other kind of violent death?

A) The families of condemned prisoners know for years that the state intends to kill their relatives and the method that will be used.
B) Their relatives' deaths will come about as the result of the actions of dozens of respected and powerful persons.
C) Their relatives are publicly disgraced and shamed; they have been formally cast out of society and judged to be unworthy to live.
D) The deaths of their relatives are not mourned and regretted the way other violent deaths are; rather, the death is condoned, supported and desired by many people, and actively celebrated by some.
E) all of the above

Question 9

Which of the following is a problem experienced by families of death row inmates?

A) stress (both economic and psychological)
B) grief
C) depression and other medical illnesses
D) self-accusation
E) all of the above

Question 10

Professor Radin defines "retribution" as a private act, and "revenge" as a public act.

Question 11

Revenge theory is captured in the idea of "lex talionis," while expiation theory is based on the premise that only through suffering punishment can an offender atone for his or her crime.

Question 12

Professor Finckenauer distinguishes a bad version of retribution, of revenge and vindictiveness, in which the criminal is paid back from an acceptable version, called "just deserts," in which the criminal pays back for the harm he or she has done.

Question 13

Research shows that retributive punishment reactions decrease with the increasing importance of the violated rule and the increasing seriousness of the outcome.

Question 14

According to Professor Zimring, the symbolic and linguistic shift in emphasis from revenge to closure has been a public relations godsend for death penalty proponents because it has transformed capital trials and executions, at least in the minds of the public, into politically palatable processes that serve the personal interests of homicide survivors.

Question 15

The literal interpretation of the "eye for an eye" maxim is only imposed for capital murder.

Question 16

Most death penalty opponents want guilty capital offenders to escape punishment and justice.

Question 17

During the hiatus in capital punishment in the United States, between 1968 and 1977, there was an increase in personal revenge.

Question 18

States without capital punishment have elevated levels of personal revenge. (F)

Question 19

More than half the world's countries have now abolished capital punishment in law or practice.

Question 20

More than 30 countries have abolished the penalty since 1990.

Question 21

Research on capital crime victims' families shows that the loss of a close relative to homicide is a shatteringly traumatic event.

Question 22

Research on capital crime victims' families shows that the pain, disruption, and trauma caused by homicide cannot be overstated.

Question 23

Research on capital crime victims' families shows that the trauma and difficulty of adjusting to loss by homicide is such that survivors often experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder-like symptoms.

Question 24

Research on capital crime victims' families shows that many survivors report losing their sense that there is any justice or safety in the world; many feel that life itself has lost all meaning.

Question 25

Research on capital crime victims' families shows that survivors can expect to encounter difficulties in many other areas of their lives, including their marriages, relationships with children, friendships, and work.

Question 26

Research on capital crime victims' families shows that the experience of bereavement moves through several stages, including denial, anger, grief, and ultimately, resolution. These stages are necessarily distinct, and do not always occur in the same sequence.

Question 27

Research on capital crime victims' families shows that periods of grieving and recovery are relatively short.

Question 28

Research on capital crime victims' families shows that survivors often are not helped, and sometimes are further victimized, by the criminal justice system.

Question 29

Research on capital crime victims' families shows that formal and informal supports for homicide victims' survivors are generally available and helpful.

Question 30

Research on capital crime victims' families shows that the experience of isolation is very common-at the time they most need contact and support, families often feel the most isolated.

Question 31

Research on capital crime victims' families shows that intrusion is often a problem, with unwelcome contacts from the criminal justice system, the media, and curiosity seekers.

Question 32

Research on capital crime victims' families shows that there seems to be much potential for advancing the process of healing through non-judgmental, ongoing, emotionally involved listening, without suggestions as to how the survivors should feel or what they should do.

Question 33

Nearly all of the approximately 1,100 people eligible to view Timothy McVeigh's execution were willing to do so.

Question 34

With only a few exceptions, the leadership of most religious denominations in the United States today supports the death penalty.

Question 35

U.S. Supreme Court Justices have always agreed that retribution is an acceptable justification for capital punishment.

Question 36

Hebrew law made it very difficult to execute a capital offender.

Question 37

Evidence suggests that the abolition of capital punishment in the United States would lead to an increase in personal revenge by relatives and friends of the victim.

Question 38

The research available indicates that the effects of capital punishment on death row or executed inmates' families can be as profound as it is for victims' families.

Question 39

Family members of capital defendants frequently have been victims of violent crime themselves; indeed, it is not unusual for these families to have lost relatives to homicide. Yet, because of class and racial inequities in sentencing, it is unlikely their relatives' deaths were punished with much severity.

Question 40

Recent research suggests that the public supports the death penalty primarily for vindictive revenge.

Question 41

The National Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States has declared its opposition to capital punishment, arguing that it is uncivilized, inhumane, barbaric, and an assault on the sanctity of human life.

Question 42

Religious leaders have argued that capital punishment is inconsistent with efforts to promote respect for human life, to stem the tide of violence in our society and to embody the message of God's redemptive love.

Question 43

The New Testament provides many references that ostensibly argue against capital punishment.

Question 44

It was not until the Middle Ages, especially during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries when the Catholic Church dominated social life in Western Europe, that capital punishment began to be used widely for religious crimes.

Question 45

Pre-Christian legal codes generally listed more crimes and more severe punishments than those imposed later under religious auspices.

Question 46

Traditional thinking of the Catholic Church holds that capital punishment is the most effective deterrent to crime.

Question 47

According to Protestant clergyman and scholar Reverend Reuben Hahn, "Not to inflict the death penalty is a flagrant disregard for God's divine law which recognizes the dignity of human life as a product of God's creation."

Question 48

Proponents of the death penalty argue that in the original Hebrew, the Sixth Commandment translates as "Thou shalt not commit murder."

Question 49

According to the Roman Catechism of the Council of Trent promulgated by Pope Pius V in 1566, the death penalty is not a morally permissible way to punish murderers.