Death+Penalty

** 2/10/09 Devin McDonnell  ** THE ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT: The abolitionist movement began with **Cesare Beccaria's 1767 essay, //On Crimes and Punishment//**//,// who **theorized that there was no justification for the state's taking of a life.** American intellectuals were influenced by Beccaria  à   **Thomas Jefferson intr** ** oduced the first attempted reforms of the death penalty in the U.S.  ** with a bill proposing that capital punishment be used only for the crimes of murder and treason. It was defeated by only one vote. Also influenced was **Dr. Benjamin Rush**, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and founder of the Pennsylvania Prison Society. Rush **challenged the belief that the death penalty serves as a deterrent**, and was an early believer in **the "brutalization effect"** – that the DP actually increased criminal conduct. Rush **gained the support of Benjamin Franklin**. ABOLISHED IN US.. BUT REVIVED: Because of doubts of constitutionality and all-time low public support, in 1972 the Supreme Court effectively voided 40 DP statutes, commuting the sentences of 629 death row inmates around the country and suspending the DP because existing statutes were no longer valid.  Reforms to end arbitration were sent in from DP supporting states and accepted by the Supreme Court, and after a ten-year moratorium on executions they resumed January 17, 1977 ** Pros:  **  2001 British Home Office (equiv. of US Justice Dept.) study found violent and property crimes on the rise in every wealthy country EXCEPT the US. Our homicide rate has dropped to levels unheard of since 1960’s. Only the Japanese have a lower victimization rate than the US of the Group of Seven. During years when executions were banned, the national murder rate doubled:
 * __ DEATH PENALTY FACT SHEET __**
 * __ BRIEF HISTORY __**
 * Prevents Crime **

 = a 131% increase! The Texas Example: Texas practices the most executions of any single state, does so for a reason. Numbers show: The Murder rate in 1991 = 15.3 muders per 100,000 people… But when Texas started upping its capital punishment practices (already 5 put to death in 2009, a total of 428 since 1976) saw that murder rate drop to 6.1 per 100,000 by 1999. That’s a 60% drop in 8 years! In states not as strict as Texas, murderers know they won’t have to face the DP: Quote: On murdering Rosa Velez, Luis Vera, who burglarized and murdered the woman in her Brooklyn home, was quoted as saying, “Yeah, I shot her... And I knew I wouldn’t go to the chair.” Scientist Studies: Naci Morgan economics professor at U. of Colorado, Denver, reexamined in 2006 a study on DP Deterrance Effects and found that each execution on average resulted in five fewer homicides that year. On what her studies found, Naci said: “The conclusion here is that there is a deterrant effect. The results are robust.” “I oppose the death penalty, but my results show the death penalty deters. What am I going to do – hide them?” This is only one of a dozed similar studies since 2001 that show similar evidence. Another nationwide study done in 2003 by professors at Emory University found that each execution deters an average of 18 murders. At the time the UN Declaration of Human Rights was implemented, most nations had the DP and continued to use it long after the Declaration was approved by them  à the original writers obviously recognized and appreciated the difference between MURDER(lawless) and EXECUTION (punishment for a crime committed carried out by a judicial system after due process and evidence is seen.) Article 3 of UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person.”  à This is what the DP justly and legally defends.. not violates. Article 5: “No one shall be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment.”  à Highly subjective + no evidence for lethal injections (what 37/38 states currently use as regular method of execution) being cruel or unusual in any way. It is mere opinion that the Death Penalty is cruel and unusual. Most are done with lethal injection, which is an almost serene death (ESPECIALLY when you compare the criminal’s death to their victim’s deaths!)  There is barely a country in Europe where the DP was abolished in response to public opinion. Public Opinion polls show that Canadians and Europeans was the DP just as much as US citizens, but politicians dismiss them. Director of the center for Capital Punishment Studies at the University of Westminister in London said this about Centripetal Pressure: “What the Council of Europe did was to exercise the coercive powers they had over these young, emerging democracies who all wanted to join with a view of joining the EU in the future.” The EU has basically forced its own agenda and opinion on capital punishment on countries that are looking to join up for other benefits. This makes it seem like everyone is against us in opinion, but really its only the EU, not the actual realities of what the majorities of their citizens think is effective crime and punishment routine.  ** Cons: ** According to a survey of the former and present presidents of the country's top academic criminological societies, 84% of these experts rejected the notion that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder . (Radelet & Akers, 1996)  <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">A 1995 Hart Research Poll of police chiefs in the US found that the <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">majority of the chiefs do not believe that the <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"> death penalty is an effective law enforcement tool. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">Consistent with previous years, the 2006 FBI Uniform Crime Report showed <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">that <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanBdMS;">the South had the highest murder rate. The South accounts for over <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanBdMS;">80% of executions. <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">The Northeast, which has less than 1% of all executions, <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;"> again had the lowest murder rate. [all above facts from DP information Center, WA DC] Research has never shown it deters more than long term prison. Studies have anylized murder rates in neighboring states with and without the DP, before and after the DP’s abolition or reintroduction, and before and after high profile executions in states which practiced the DP. NONE of these studies have found good evidence for detterance. [economist] <span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;"> 2005 = 46% more murders in states WITH Death Penalty. //The murder rate is much higher in US than the DP free Europe. Murder rate in US is actually the highest in the industrialized world.// The DP is reserved for the “worst kinds of murder”, but those are the people least likely to think about or be deterred by the prospect of the DP. Time Magazine found that though 52% of American’s did not think it deters, and 80% thought murders did not think about it. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'TimesNewRomanMS','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;"> Chances too slim to create real deterrence: Chances of being caught, and procecuted WITH a death penalty sentence are 1/1000. The Economist reports: From 1983 – 1993: 22,000 homicides annually. Only 2000-4000 qualified for DP   Only 250 actually resulted in sentenced DP. Only 22 people on average actually executed annually of these numbers. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"> à these days executions have increased annually (thanks mostly to Texas) but not much, and does not change the argument. For it to be a real deterrant, the US would have to execute in the 100s or 1000’s – not a few dozen a year. 1960s <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"> ß Before then, the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments were interpreted as permitting the death penalty. However, in the early 1960s, it was suggested that the death penalty was a "cruel and unusual" punishment, and therefore unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment. Lethal Injections = standard form of government funded killing for 37/38 states The tranquility of these supervised deaths are misgiving: if not done right, the procedure would, with the first shot, leave the victim paralyzed yet wide awake and unable to voice or indicate distress as he or she suffocates and then suffers a massive heart attack. This is sadly more likely then admitted – most states do not account for different body sizes absorbing anesthesia differently. Case study of Lethal Injection gone wrong: Jan 24 2007, Mr. Angel Diaz – doctors slid the needle straight through his vein, pumping toxic chemicals into underlying flesh. Mr. Diaz writhed, grimaced, and tried to speak for over half an hour when the second dose finally killed him. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"> à event made Jeb Bush halt them in FL for a while. Missouri halted executions after one dyslexic doctor admitted he’d given ½ the amount of anesthesia he was supposed to. ** Un-evolved ** <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Desperate times usually = more killing. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Great Depression <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> à <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> more executions in the 1930s than in any other decade in American history. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Maturing society should = maturing, more humane laws: <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In 1958, the Supreme Court had decided in Trop v. Dulles (356 U.S. 86), that the Eighth Amendment contained an "evolving standard of decency that marked the progress of a maturing society." Although Trop was not a death penalty case, abolitionists applied the Court's logic to executions and maintained that the United <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">States had progressed to a point that its "standard of decency" should no longer tolerate the death penalty. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';"> The governor of Maryland estimated that the state would have saved $22.4 million since 1978 <span style="font-size: 9pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"> à could have paid for 550 extra police a year, or drug treatments for 10,000 addicts. Unlike the DP, this money would have been “an investment to save lives and prevent violent crime.” [economist] <span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">• The California death penalty system costs taxpayers $114 million per year beyond the costs of keeping convicts locked up for life. <span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">Taxpayers have paid more than $250 million for each of the state’s executions. (L.A. Times, March 6, 2005) <span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">• In Kansas, the costs of capital cases are 70% more expensive than comparable non-capital cases, including the costs of incarceration. (Kansas Performance Audit Report, December 2003). <span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">• In Indiana, the total costs of the death penalty exceed the complete costs of life without parole sentences by about 38%, assuming <span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">that 20% of death sentences are overturned and reduced to life. (Indiana Criminal Law Study Commission, January 10, 2002). • The most comprehensive study in the country found that the death penalty costs North Carolina $2.16 million per execution over the costs of sentencing murderers to life imprisonment. The majority of those costs occur at the trial level. (Duke University, May 1993). <span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">• Enforcing the death penalty costs Florida $51 million a year above what it would cost to punish all first-degree murderers with life in prison without parole. Based on the 44 executions Florida had carried out since 1976, that amounts to a cost of $24 million for each execution. (Palm Beach Post, January 4, 2000). <span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">• In Texas, a death penalty case costs an average of $2.3 million, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. (Dallas Morning News, March 8, 1992). ** <span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> "Wrongful execution" is a miscarriage of justice occurring when an innocent person is put to death by capital punishment. Some have claimed that as many as 39 executions have been carried out in the U.S. in face of compelling evidence of innocence or serious doubt about guilt. [wikipedia] DNA evidence is only available in a fraction of capital cases. <span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">Since 1973, over 120 people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence. (Staff Report, House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil & Constitutional Rights, Oct. 1993, with updates from DPIC). From 1973-1999, there was an average of 3.1 exonerations per year. From 2000-2007, there has been an average of 5 exonerations per year. [Facts from DP information Center, WA DC] <span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">-eyewitness testimony notoriously unreliable. Injections have been called off before literally minutes before they happen, as new evidence surfaces that puts the guilty party in question. <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">- 80% of people accused of felony depend on publicly provided lawyer <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;"> à <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;"> 35 yrs ago in Gideon vs Wainwright the supreme court ruled that a trial could not be fair without a legitimately trained lawyer. This was seen as a big step in the right direction for the rights of those accused, but is largely ignored now because that would be too expensive for the state to provide. So since we have a wealth based justice system, the poor are more likely to be wrongly accused. [economist] <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;"> The fact that we, the United States, self proclaim “leader of the free world,” still practices capital punishment is becoming a diplomatic irritant. The EU considers the abolitionist movement a human right priority, and requires that anyone who wants to join the EU must end death penalty practices. In April 1999, the United Nations Human Rights Commission passed the Resolution Supporting Worldwide Moratorium On Executions <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"> à calls on countries which have not abolished the death penalty to restrict its use of the death penalty, including not imposing it on juvenile offenders and limiting the number of offenses for which it can be imposed. Ten countries, including the United States, China, Pakistan, Rwanda and Sudan voted against the resolution at the time. (New York Times, 4/29/99//).// <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanBdMS;"> //In 2005, the Supreme Court in// Roper v. Simmons //<span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">struck down the death penalty for juveniles. 22 defendants had been executed for <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">crimes committed as juveniles since 1976. <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Each year since 1997, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights has passed a resolution calling on countries that have not abolished the death penalty to establish a moratorium on executions. <span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">The May 2006 Gallup Poll found that overall support of the death penalty was 65% (down from 80% in 1994). The same <span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">poll revealed that when respondents are given the choice of life without parole as an alternate sentencing option, more <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanMS;">choose life without parole (48%) than the death penalty (47%).
 * **Year:** ||  **# of Executions:**  ||  **# of Murders:**  ||
 * 1960 ||  56  ||  9,140  ||
 * ** 1964 ** || ** only 15 ** || ** 9,250 ** ||
 * 1969 ||  no executions  ||  14,590  ||
 * ** 1975 ** || ** no executions ** || ** 20,510 ** ||
 * 1980 ||  only 2 since 1976  ||  23,040  ||
 * The DP is a Punishment for Human Rights Violations, not one itself **
 * “European Support” Argument Deceiving **
 * Doesn’t prevent crimes **
 * **POLICE RATE AS LAST IN REDUCING CRIME** ||
 * **Percent Naming Item As Primary Focus** ||
 * Expand Death Penalty – 1% ||
 * Reducing Guns – 3% ||
 * More Police Officers – 10% ||
 * Longer Prison Sentences -15% ||
 * Simplifying Court Rules -16% ||
 * Better Economy, Jobs – 17% ||
 * Reducing Drug Abuse – 31% ||
 * Unconstitutional and Inhumane **
 * Costs a Bunch **
 * [Facts from DP information Center, WA DC]
 * Are We Even Getting the Right Guys? **
 * At Odds With Rest of Industrialized World **
 * Support in US is falling **