No description available.

Texas leads the nation in the number of executions carried out since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. Race was a key factor in the 1972 moratorium, and though the Supreme Court allowed for its return under new statutes, race continues to plague the capital punishment legal system. In this study, I examine the influence of race on case clearances in capital and non-capital homicides in Texas, using the extra-legal and non-discretionary theories from existing clearance literature. I find that race influences the probability of cases being cleared in non-capital cases but has no statistically significant effect in clearing capital cases.

No description available.

Many aspects of capital punishment have been debated extensively, such as its legality and cruelty. One such aspect is the role a defendant's mental functioning should play in the proceedings. In recent years the Supreme Court has barred the mentally retarded and juveniles from the death penalty due to their cognitive limitations and problems with behavioral control (Slobogin, 2003). This reasoning has prompted many in the fields of mental health and law to advocate for a similar bar for offenders with severe mental illness since their impairments create similar problems in judgment and behavioral control. The Supreme Court cited public consensus as its grounds in banning the mentally retarded and juveniles from sentences of death; however, public consensus on mentally ill capital offenders is not quite as clear. Few attempts have gauged public opinion on sentencing severely mentally ill offenders to death, and the little research that does exist has produced conflicting results. While polls show that Americans oppose the death penalty for the severely mental ill (Gallup, 2008), the literature shows that jurors are more likely to sentence these defendants to death (Charlotte School of Law [CSL], 2006). Second to the issue of barring the severely mentally ill from the death penalty is the issue of what mental health factors would be considered severe enough to qualify for a bar. There has been no previous research to gauge public opinion on these issues. Surveys were constructed to gauge opinion on the issue and were mailed randomly to 1,640 people throughout the United States. A total of 202 surveys were returned completed. Support was found for a bar from the death penalty for the mentally ill. However, the mental health factors that should comprise a bar received varied support and were less clear in determining which should comprise a bar. When given alternatives to a death sentence, participants overwhelmingly chose some type of life sentence. Public opinion appears to be an important aspect in the imposition of capital punishment upon the mentally ill.

Whilst studies on capital punishment in Japan have been conducted by various scholars from various perspectives, empirical research on the de facto moratorium period is largely unavailable. This thesis aims to investigate how consistently the Japanese government justified capital punishment during the execution-free period from 1989 to 1993. Its primary goal is to throw light on the elite-driven nature of the capital punishment system where important decisions are made within the closed institutional dynamic, often irrespective of domestic or international factors. It will also highlight that capital punishment policy has been dealt with by the Japanese government as an issue of law and order, which does not necessarily invite criticism from human rights perspectives. The thesis then proceeds to empirically examine the governmental discourse on capital punishment from 1980 to 2002. It will contend that investigations from an appropriate approach can make clear the elite-driven nature of capital punishment policy in Japan. Finally, it will suggest implications for the international and domestic anti-death-penalty advocates regarding their campaigns over Japan, and reflect on how this thesis can help tackle future research.

This thesis explores the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the executions of London Separatist leaders Henry Barrow and John Greenwood on 6 April, 1593. Occurring after a lengthy prison term punctuated by official examinations conducted by authorities, the executions took place only after the men had been twice reprieved, performed so early as to avoid a crowd yet still in the appointed place of public execution. Focusing on Henry Barrow and the London Separatists, this thesis explores how a national climate of fear and violence led to a greater crackdown on religious dissidents, and argues that the strange circumstances of Barrow’s execution might be attributed to a reluctance to punish a fellow Protestant in the same manner as a Catholic recusant, and the great differences of opinion among both ecclesiastical and temporal state officials regarding the punishment of religious dissent. Though Conformist officials and authoritarianism would ultimately triumph over Puritan efforts to speed reform in the Church of England, the case of Henry Barrow illustrates the fractured state of opinion which was present even among the highest reaches of government.

This essay is about capital punishment and mutilation in Ancient Egypt’s pharaonic era. The earlier research has mostly focused on the New Kingdom and later periods, in large part because the textual sources are much clearer from then on. There are however some earlier texts that seem to mention death penalty or mutilation, but correct analysis of these is debatable. Some scholars argue that death penalty certainly was used before New Kingdom, while others claim that this is not the case. These things combined contribute to the lack of knowledge of how these penalties were used. The goal of the present study is to elaborate on how and why the penalties were applied and if they were used before the New Kingdom. This is done by means of analyzing and comparing textual sources from different time periods. The material consists of inscriptions from tombs, stelae and juridical documents such as documentation from tomb robberies and the so-called Harem Conspiracy. The most important findings are that there are indicators, but no tangible evidence, for mutilation or capital punishment being used before New Kingdom. The New Kingdom material is indeed clearer and it is apparent that death penalty, in the form of impaling, was used as punishment for tomb robbery, conspiracy and rebellion against the king and theft from temple. Mutilation of the ears and the nose was used against those who abused their power or their confidence.

Resumé The right to life and the capital punishment Death penalty or capital punishment, or extreme penalty, is a punishment that assumes killing (or execution) of condemned person for a criminal offence provided it is possible to impose this sentence in accordance with the criminal law in force. At former times these crimes were called capital or hanging crimes. With regard to its definitiveness (impossibility of any redress after its execution) it is very controversial punishment. Its supporters argue that it is the sole just sentence for homicide and other felonies, that it excludes recurrence and it has significant deterrent (preventive) effects. On the other hand, the opponents allege not only moral arguments concerning the right of each person to life but they also mention the danger of judicial error which is incorrigible in this case. Furthermore, the objectors point out that the death sentence is not so intimidating. In addition, the costs of the execution use to be more expensive than life imprisonment. Since 1970s the capital punishment has been gradually cancelled in the majority of European and South American countries. Some states of the USA and the People's Republic of China are among countries that still make practise of the death penalty. I deal with the capital sentence in the first part...

Life imprisonment Resumé The purpose of my thesis is to penetrate into the issue of life imprisonment and to analyse consequences which are connected with its legislation. The death penalty was replaced by life imprisonment in our country in 1990. The penalty of life imprisonment as the toughest punishment in the legal system of the Czech Republic necessitates big attention, because it causes considerable harm to the human rights of people sentenced to it. That is why it is possible to impose life sentence only in compliance with the strict conditions and only for enumerated crimes, both stated in the penal code. Nevertheless, life imprisonment has its supporters and opponents as well as death penalty, because it has not only advantages in comparison with capital punishment, but also some disadvantages. The thesis tries to describe these problems and propose solutions to it. The thesis is composed of seven chapters, each of them dealing with the issue of life imprisonment from a different point of view. The chapters are thematically divided into subchapters. It is necessary to know the historical context to understand the present legislation of life imprisonment, therefore Chapter One looks at development of life imprisonment, briefly in the world, but it focuses mainly on its development in our territory...

Thesis advisor: Arthur Madigan / Catholic moral philosophers and theologians for centuries used Thomas Aquinas's defense of the death penalty as a point of reference in defending the state's right to execute. Recent Church documents such as Evangelium Vitae, however, seem to take a different approach to the question than Aquinas did. In secular contemporary treatments of the death penalty, Aquinas's account is often caricatured or simply overlooked. One of the reasons for this is the lack of a thorough treatment of the death penalty in the thought of Aquinas. This dissertation seeks to address that deficiency. I present Aquinas's account of capital punishment as an example of determining civil punishments through the exercise of practical reason. Aquinas's thought sanctions neither an absolute acceptance nor an absolute rejection of the death penalty; for him, this is not a question that admits of absolutes. Like other punishments, the death penalty is a determination made by human reason. Its justification depends on specific historical and cultural circumstances and on the needs of the political community, as well as on the severity of the offense. Killing a guilty person is not intrinsically evil, in Aquinas's view, but it is nonetheless a last resort, when nothing else can be done for the good of the community. It may be that recent Church documents have avoided making use of the Thomistic teaching on the death penalty, even where this could have made their reasoning clearer, for fear that such arguments would be misunderstood, or in order to make a clearer case for forgoing the penalty. If this dissertation contributes to our understanding of what Thomas actually says about CP, it will be helpful in reconciling the thought of John Paul II with the tradition of Catholic thought on capital punishment, as well as in offering a reasonable way for thinking about punishments in general. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Philosophy.