Essential Question:
Is the death penalty "cruel and unusual," and in violation of the 8th Amendment?

Connections to include- Use at least one:

• 8th Amendment (required) (DP cruel and unusual?)
• Equal Protection of the Law - 14th Amendment
• federalism
• justice
• 6th amendment
• Landmark Cases ( citation of at least one required)
  Gregg v. Georgia 428 U.S. 153 (1976)
  Is the imposition of the death sentence prohibited under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments as "cruel and unusual" punishment?
• FURMAN v. GEORGIA, 408 U.S. 238 (1972)
  Does the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty in these cases constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments?
• Trop v. Dulles
  356 U.S. 86 (1958)
• RING v. ARIZONA, No. 01-488 (U.S.S.C. June 24, 2002)
  The state of Arizona's enumerated aggravating factors which allow for imposition of the death penalty, amount to "the functional equivalent of an element of a greater offense," which must be found by a jury under Apprendi, and may not be determined by a sentencing judge.To read the full text of this opinion, go to: http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/us/000/01488.html
• Case Basegound on Capital Punishment
  From findlaw.com

Articles - Use these articles and cases to support your thesis.

• Landmark death-row case comes full circle
• Board clears way for Arizona's first execution since 2000
• Lethal injection creator: Maybe it's time to change formula
• Fears of making a mistake contribute to drop in death sentences, executions
  The number of death sentences handed out in the United States dropped in 2006 to the lowest level since capital punishment was reinstated 30 years ago, reflecting what some experts say is a growing fear that the criminal-justice system will make a tragic and irreversible mistake.
• High court asked to halt execution of sickly inmate, 75
  California's oldest death row inmate — a 75-year-old who is legally blind and nearly deaf — is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to do something it has never done before: block an execution because of the condemned man's advanced age and infirmity.
• 1,000th execution slated for next week (November 25, 05)
  An execution once every 10 days since moratorium lifted
  "Let's do it." With those last words, convicted killer Gary Gilmore ushered in the modern era of capital punishment in the United States, an age of busy death chambers that will likely see its 1,000th execution in the coming days.
• Justices issue key death penalty rulings
  Decisions affect lethal injection challenges, DNA testing
• Patriot Act proposal alters death penalty
• Court to consider juvenile death penalty
  WASHINGTON - A divided Supreme Court on Wednesday weighed whether to ban the death penalty for juveniles who kill, one of the highest-profile questions confronting the justices as they continue re-examining who is subject to capital punishment.
• Utah near abolition of firing squads
  But 4 on death row could die that way The Utah Legislature gave final approval Friday to a bill eliminating firing squad executions - but allowing four current death-row inmates to go out in a hail of bullets.
  
• Execution in Texas points up race factor
  When convicted killer Larry Allen Hayes voluntarily went to the death chamber earlier this month, it marked the first time in several decades that Texas executed a white person for killing a black person.
• Calif. death penalty applied unevenly
  California now has 638 inmates awaiting death, some of them for more than one murder. It adds up to 645 death sentences - roughly one for every 54,700 current residents.
• Utah readies firing squad - Volunteer marksmen sought for execution
  A search for volunteers began in early May after a state judge signed death warrants for two convicted murderers who have requested death by firing squad.
• Texas set for 300th execution since 1982
  Convicted killer Delma Banks could become a historical footnote Wednesday, when he is scheduled to die in what would be Texas' 300th execution since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982.
• Death row inmate given chance
  Supreme Court cites potential for race bias on jury -WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a Black death row inmate deserves a new chance to press his claim that prosecutors stacked his jury with Whites and death penalty supporters.
• Supreme Court not ready to debate execution of juveniles
  Scott Allen Hain's lawyers and death penalty opponents had hoped to use him as a legal test case in the dispute over whether executing people who were under 18 when they committed murder should be constitutionally banned as "cruel and unusual punishment."
• Southern states carry out 86% of nation's executions
  Although the death penalty remains common in most of the United States, executions increasingly take place only in the South, according to the end-of-the-year report from the Death Penalty Information Center.
• Law professors say blanket clemency okay
  As Gov. George Ryan decides whether to commute the sentences of some death row inmates, hundreds of the nation's law professors want him to know he would be justified in granting clemency to all of them. Saturday, January 11, 2003 Posted: 10:15 PM EST (0315 GMT)
• 'Blanket commutation' empties Illinois death row -- Incoming governor criticizes decision
  Outgoing Illinois Gov. George Ryan announced Saturday that he had commuted the sentences of all of the state's death row inmates and said he would "sleep well knowing I made the right decision." "Our capital system is haunted by the demon of error: error in determining guilt and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die. What effect was race having? What effect was poverty having? "Because of all these reasons, today I am commuting the sentences of all death row inmates," Ryan said.
  
• Study: Texas leads in executions
  Texas executed 33 people this year, the most of any U.S. state and almost double the number put to death in Texas last year, a study showed.
  
• 13 states executed killers this year, a nine-year low
  t he number of states that carried out executions fell to a nine-year low in 2002, and several carried out fewer than in 2001, a study shows.
• Illinois governor to pardon 4 death row inmates
  
• Do bad lawyers warrant 2nd chance for death row inmates?
  http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/11/18/scotus.death.penalty.ap/index.html
• Death penalty law held unconstitutional
  Tuesday, 2 July 2002 http://www.azstarnet.com/star/today/20702nillegaldeathpenalt.html
  THE NEW YORK TIMES NEW YORK - A federal judge in Manhattan ruled on Monday that the current federal death penalty law is unconstitutional, citing the growing number of exonerations of death row inmates through DNA and other evidence
• States are amending laws that affect death penalty
  DENVER - With Colorado taking a leading role, some states have begun amending their death penalty laws to bring them in line with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said it is up to juries, not judges, to decide whether a killer should live or die.
• Death penalty fix looks less simple - Plan may slip on role of juries, high court
  The hopes for a quick vote on revamping Arizona's capital punishment laws when the Legislature convenes Tuesday could be dashed by a series of questions that are nagging state officials.
  http://www.azstarnet.com/star/today/20728DEATHPENALTY.html
• A ruling on the federal death penalty leaves a key question unanswered
  Last week, in United States v. Quinones, federal district judge Jed Rakoff ruled the federal death penalty unconstitutional. The decision is far more sweeping than the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Atkins v. Virginia and Ring v. Arizona. Those cases decided, respectively, that the death penalty couldn't be meted out to the mentally retarded, or by a judge acting alone. But they left intact the existing systems of capital punishment in most states and at the federal level.
• Prisoner longs to hurry death
  Robert Comer has been called the most dangerous man in the Arizona prison system.
• No racial bias in federal death penalty cases
  WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Justice Department report examining federal prosecutors' handling of death penalty cases has found no intentional racial or ethnic bias, CNN has learned.
• Ariz. death penalty review begins
  http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/000928RDeathPenalty.html
  PHOENIX - A state commission launched its review of how Arizona implements capital punishment as Attorney General Janet Napolitano stressed that the death penalty itself is not up for debate.
• High court blocks execution of retarded man
  The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked the execution of a borderline mentally retarded man shortly after it had reinstated his execution order. http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/03/07/missouri.execution.ap/index.html
• Death sentence ruling stirs hope for Arizona's inmates
  FLORENCE - At 86, Viva Leroy Nash is the oldest death row inmate in America. He's also a news junkie.
  http://www.arizonarepublic.com/news/articles/0708deathrow080.html

• N.C. governor commutes sentence of death-row inmate to life
  RALEIGH, North Carolina (CNN) -- Gov. Mike Easley has granted clemency to a death-row inmate who had claimed his sentence was imposed by a racist jury.
  
• Georgia high court strikes down chair
  Georgia's highest court struck down the state's use of the electric chair Friday, saying electrocution violates the state constitution's protection against cruel and unusual punishment. http://www.cnn.com/2001/LAW/10/05/georgia.electric.chair.ap/index.html
  
• Wrongly convicted take center stage at death penalty forum
  More than 30 former death row inmates who were wrongly convicted gathered Saturday to attend what is believed to be the largest conference on capital punishment since the Supreme Court reinstated it in 1976.http://cnn.com/US/9811/15/death.row.conference/
• Death row exonerations inspire debate over death penalty
• Arizona and the Death Penalty
• Court action reinstates death penalty of man who claimed bad counsel
  The Supreme Court left a death sentence in place Tuesday for a Tennessee killer whose new lawyers hoped he would be a test case for an examination of the quality of legal help given to people facing the death penalty. http://www.cnn.com/2001/LAW/10/09/SCOTUS.death.penalty.ap/index.html
  
• Confessed killer cleared by DNA is freed
  AUSTIN, Texas - A man who confessed to a murder 13 years ago was freed from prison yesterday after being cleared by DNA evidence gathered by a group of law students.
  
• Study questions death penalty as deterrent
• Ariz. death penalty review begins
• Texas moves to ban execution of mentally retarded offenders
  AUSTIN, Texas (CNN) -- The Texas Legislature Saturday passed a bill banning the use of the death penalty on mentally retarded offenders.
  http://www.cnn.com/2001/LAW/05/26/texas.execution/index.html
• Virginia man free after 9.5 years on death row
  VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia (AP) -- Earl Washington Jr. walked out of prison Monday after spending 9.5 years on Virginia's death row for a murder he didn't commit.
  
• Approaching execution haunts ex-governor who didn't allow pardon
  SANTA FE, New Mexico (AP) -- Weeks before he was to leave office in 1986, New Mexico Gov. Toney Anaya emptied death row, commuting all five inmates' sentences to life imprisonment. http://www.cnn.com/2001/LAW/11/01/newmexico.execution.ap/index.html

Interest Groups - Web sites

• Death Penalty Information Center
• Amnesty International
• ACLU Death Penalty Page

• A list of death penalty related sites
• Court TV and the Death Penalty

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