Looking Deathworthy

2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 383-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Eberhardt ◽  
Paul G. Davies ◽  
Valerie J. Purdie-Vaughns ◽  
Sheri Lynn Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Death Sentence ◽  
Capital Sentencing ◽  
Black Defendant

Researchers previously have investigated the role of race in capital sentencing, and in particular, whether the race of the defendant or victim influences the likelihood of a death sentence. In the present study, we examined whether the likelihood of being sentenced to death is influenced by the degree to which a Black defendant is perceived to have a stereotypically Black appearance. Controlling for a wide array of factors, we found that in cases involving a White victim, the more stereotypically Black a defendant is perceived to be, the more likely that person is to be sentenced to death.

A Double-Edged Sword: The Role of Neuroimaging in Federal Capital Sentencing

2007 ◽  
Vol 33 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 501-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abram S. Barth
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disease ◽  
Legal Issue ◽  
Death Sentence ◽  
Capital Sentencing ◽  
Future Dangerousness ◽  
Sexually Violent Predators ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Mitigating Factors ◽  
Sexually Violent

H.L.A. Hart has stated that certain mental conditions have an “excusing” effect on punishment, whereby “[t]he individual is not liable to punishment if at the time of his doing what would otherwise be a punishable act he is … the victim of certain types of mental disease.” The Supreme Court, however, upheld a state statute allowing for increased “punishment,” in the form of civil commitment, for sexually violent predators who suffer from a “mental abnormality.” Thus, American jurisprudence is faced with a paradoxical role of mental conditions: serving to both aggravate and mitigate sentences. This dual purpose of mental conditions becomes a pressing legal issue as mental conditions associated with brain structure or function become more detectable with the emergence of neuroimaging.In federal capital sentencing, judges are obligated to consider aggravating and mitigating factors before imposing a death sentence. There are aggravating and mitigating factors that could be implicated by mental conditions, including future dangerousness, and impaired capacity, respectively.

Race and the Death Penalty

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony G. Vito
Keyword(s):  
Death Penalty ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
The United States ◽  
Death Sentence ◽  
White Female ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
Wrongful Convictions ◽  
Black Defendants ◽  
Black Defendant ◽  
Modern Era

The relation of race and the death penalty has been a consistent issue in the United States in what is known as the “modern era” of capital punishment. The modern era is defined as being from 1972 to the present, following the Furman v. Georgia decision. Supreme Court cases examining race and the death penalty have considered the application of the death penalty. Issues and concerns have been brought up about whether using statistical evidence is appropriate to determine racial bias that can be used in court cases, the role of a mandatory death penalty, and concern over striking jurors from the jury pool due to race. A wealth of empirical evidence has been done in different areas of the country and has shown some evidence of bias or disparities based on various statistical analyses. One of the more common issues found is issues regarding the race of the defendant (i.e., Black defendant or Black male defendant), the race of the victim (i.e., White victim or White female victim), or interracial dyad (i.e., Black defendant and White victim) that impacts whether the death penalty is sought or imposed. Another concern is wrongful convictions and exonerations. The criminal justice system is not infallible, and this is no more so apparent when deciding to give a death sentence. Prior research has shown that Black defendants are more likely to be involved in cases later found to be wrongful convictions or exonerations. Due to the issue regarding race and the death penalty, two states Kentucky and North Carolina, have created Racial Justice Acts. The creation of these two acts is a good sign of efforts to deal with race and the death penalty. However, how its use and when shows that there is much more work is needed.

Sinners and Saints: The Role of Social Standing Evidence in Capital Sentencing

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer A. Tallon ◽  
Tarika Daftary-Kapur
Keyword(s):  
Social Standing ◽  
Capital Sentencing

scholarly journals Cancer: a perspective of human dignity and informed consent from ethics and justice

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Dora E. García-González ◽  
Xenia Anaid Rueda-Romero
Keyword(s):  
Informed Consent ◽  
Death Sentence ◽  
Ethical Values ◽  
Ethical Awareness ◽  
Ethical Perspective ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Moral Relevance ◽  
Practice Of Medicine ◽  
Personal Dignity

This article attempts to reflect on the importance of thinking in general about illness and about cancer, from an ethical perspective. This approach reveals the central role of personal dignity and the moral relevance that supports the reasons for respecting people. The ethical values that sustain the practice of medicine must aim at uplifting this dignity and seeking situations of justice, since living in a community expresses intersubjectivity that cannot be truncated by illnesses like cancer. Therefore, situations involving poverty cannot justify the lack of health care, and if such lacks occur, they run counter to ethical awareness in the deepest sense and destroy intersubjectivity. As a result, cancer is suffered as a vital experience, in a framework of lives that are lived and are not simply objects of study; those stricken with cancer are individuals who are denied the human right to health, and undergo the elimination of their dignity, the cancelation of justice, and a death sentence. Society is part of these actions and at the same time, suffers from the disappearance of hope.In this sense, the process of informed consent is used as a tool that encourages dialog and understanding between doctors and patients during proper treatment, on a shared path.

Juries and Judges

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian O'Donnell
Keyword(s):  
Death Sentence ◽  
Do So

This chapter explores the role of the jury, including how long it deliberated before arriving at a decision that could result in an execution. It analyses any subsequent actions that attempted to soften a guilty verdict’s impact, such as the addition of a rider recommending mercy. The judge could steer the jury in a particular direction through his conduct of the trial, his attitude to counsel, the tenor and frequency of his interventions, and his summing up, but once a verdict of guilty to murder was returned, his only option was to impose a death sentence. Judges had an opportunity to influence the government’s decision by communicating a written view when invited to do so. The contents of these missives, supplemented with contemporary newspaper accounts, inform the analysis. Whether there were any ‘hanging judges’ is reviewed, along with the extent to which female murderers benefited from a mixture of squeamishness, chivalry, paternalism, and precedent.

Victim Vices, Victim Voices, and Impact Statements: On the Place of Emotion and the Role of Restorative Justice in Capital Sentencing

2003 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 603-626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce A. Arrigo ◽  
Christopher R. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Capital Sentencing ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Legal Limits ◽  
Capital Cases ◽  
Victim Impact Statements ◽  
Justice Practice ◽  
Penalty Phase

This article examines the efficacy and legitimacy of using victim impact statements (VIS) during the penalty phase of capital cases. It is argued that the emotionally laden content of VIS (particularly victim allocution) fuels vengeance, anger, and hatred, thereby undermining prospects for a fair and impartial sentence and undoing prospects for a more meaningful and restorative experience of victim justice. To examine these dynamics, several principles of “critical” restorative justice are delineated, the empirical and legal limits of VIS are identified, society's urge to punish is conceptually and speculatively explored, and this tendency is juxtaposed against the extent to which compassion and forgiveness are important dimensions of the sentencing process. The article concludes with an outline of several policy reforms, consistent with critical restorative justice practice, explaining how personal/family harm following criminal wrongdoing can significantly be attended to for victims, offenders, and the community of which both are a part.

The Role of Mitigating Factors in Capital Sentencing Before and After McKoy v. North Carolina

2007 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine Kremling ◽  
M. Dwayne Smith ◽  
John K. Cochran ◽  
Beth Bjerregaard ◽  
Sondra J. Fogel
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Capital Sentencing ◽  
Mitigating Factors ◽  
Before And After
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document