The Price For Death Penalty Essays - Capital Punishment, Penology

The Price For Death Penalty Costs of the Death Penalty. James Wheeler 3/6/00 Government 400.3 The Costs of the Death Penalty in the United States Capital punishment has existed in the US since colonial times. Since then, more than 13,000 people have been legally executed. Today, there are only twelve states which do not have the death penalty: Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin, as well as Washington D.C. The locations of these states are important because they illustrate the lack of ideological homogeneity usually associated with geographical regions of the US. The methods of execution are as varied as their locations. The word capital in capital punishment refers to a persons head, as, historically, execution was performed by cutting off the head. Today, there are generally five methods of execution used in the US. Hanging, the gas chamber, lethal injection, the electric chair and the firing squad are all used, some notably less than others. I n 1930, the Bureau of Justice Statistics began keeping stats on capital punishment nationwide. From 1930 until 1967, 3859 people were executed in the US, 3334 for murder (www. uaa). Thats an average of almost 105 people per year, three out of five of which were executed in the South. By 1967, all but ten states had laws for capital punishment. Nationally, strong pressure was steadily placed on the federal government by those opposed to capital punishment which resulted in an unofficial moratorium on executions until 1976. Officially, the Supreme Court ruled capital punishment unconstitutional in 1972. In Furman v. Georgia,408 U.S. 238 (1972), a 5-4 Supreme Court decision ruled that CP laws in their present form were arbitrary and capricious and constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment as well as due process of the Fourteenth Amendment (www.aclu). In its decision, the Court voted that the death penalty statutes were vague and ambiguous, providing little guidance to juries in deciding whether to apply the death penalty. This caused states which still wanted the death penalty to revise their legislation to satisfy the Supreme Courts objection to the arbitrary nature of execution. State governments tried two new strategies to be more specific and direct in death penalty trials: guided discretion and the mandatory death penalty. In Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976) among others, the Supreme Court gave sentencing courts the right to impose sentences of death for specific crimes and allowed a two-stage (bifurcated) trial (www.cpa). In the first stage, the guilt or innocence of the defendant is established, while in the second stage, the jury or the judge (depending on the state) determines the sentence. Mandatory death penalty for specific crimes, on the other hand, was deemed unconstitutional because of cases such as Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280 (1976). These rulings lead to the modification of each states statutes regarding the death penalty (www.uaa). The moratorium ended and executions resumed in January 1977. Capital punishment remains, as it ahs always been, controversial and heavily debated on both philosophical (moral) grounds as well as on a strictly financial basis. Both sides, however, seem to be able to crunch the numbers and make their arguments in a way which supports their claims. Today, one of the major points of debate about the death penalty is that of cost. Some of those who support the death penalty defend it as a cost-effective alternative to life in prison. Those who oppose capital punishment conversely say that it costs a significant amount more to kill someone than to incarcerate them for life. What tends to occur is that advocates of the death penalty focus the debate on post trial costs, particularly incarceration, while opponents focus on the trial cost itself. Time Magazine (as of 12/95) found that, nationwide, the average cell cost is $24,000 per year and the avera ge maximum-security cell cost is $75,000 per year (www.prodeathpenalty). Illustrating how statistics are made to fit the agendas, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), a leading anti- death penalty organization, claims that, in Texas, a state known for its liberal use of the death penalty, it would cost three times as much to execute

les demoiselles davignon essays

les demoiselles d'avignon essays Classical artists will always be remembered for building the foundations of art. However, there were many revolutionary artists after their time that revolutionized art into what it is today. Impressionists, led by Claude Monet, formed a group of artists originally rejected from the academies to paint in their own "objective reality." They painted art as sifted through their senses; taking into account the environment's affect on an object or placing the focus on everyday activity, the impressionists helped redefine art. While they started the process of the transformation of art, Pablo Picasso advanced it many times over, changing the face of art more profoundly then any other artist. Picasso painted art by what views he saw in his head and imagination, not by how his eyes or other senses interpreted a scene. He shamelessly broke all the classical rules of three-dimensional space, colors, figures and subject matter. In a style called "cubism", Picasso painted one of the most pivota l works of art in history, and began a new era with a single work of art. In Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, he painted his initial attempt at breaking all classical rules and changed the world of painting forever. One aspect of Pablo Picasso's art that distinguishes him from earlier artists is the lack of three-dimensional space displayed in his art. In Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, the five lady figures seem to be enveloped in what might be construed as the background. In contrast to earlier Raphael paintings for instance, where red drapery serves as a frame for Mary and baby Jesus, Picasso's figures appear to be actually wearing the drapery. The far woman on the left appears without clothes, except for the piece of red drapery strewn across the right side of her body. Each successive figure shows her full body with the exception of where the drapery covers her. By redefining the three-dimensional space and forcing the characters to take on the full focus of th...