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death penalty

 

            
             One of the most controversial issues involving the Eighth Amendment is capital punishment or the death penalty. The Supreme Court has considered cases involving the death penalty since the 1800s. Until the 1970s the Supreme Court refused to rule that laws allowing the government to put people to death were unconstitutional. However, since 1976 the Supreme Court has approved other laws allowing capital punishment. New state and federal laws that were passed in 1994 increased the number of crimes that are punishable by death. .
             California allows the death penalty as an option in the following cases: first-degree murder with special circumstances, treason, homicide by a prisoner serving a life sentence, train wrecking, and perjury causing execution. There are many methods that are used in different states. There is Lethal Injection, Electrocution, Gas Chamber, Hanging, and Firing Squad. In California the sentence is death by lethal injection and lethal gas. Lethal injection will be used if the prisoner fails to specify a method. .
             The U.S. retained the death penalty, but has established limitation on capital punishment. One limitation is on Mental Illness and Retardation. In 1989, the Court stated that executing persons with mental retardation was not a violation of the Eighth Amendment and it would instead be a factor that would be justified and considered during the sentencing. Another restriction is race. In 96% of the states where there have been reviews of race and the death penalty, there was a pattern of race-of-victim or race-of-defendant discrimination (Prof. Baldus report to the ABA, 1998). Another recent study shows that blacks received the death penalty at a 38% higher rate than all other races ("The Death Penalty in Black and White"-DPIC, 1998). However, the Supreme Court confirmed that racial diversities would not be recognized as a constitutional violation of "equal protection of law" unless intentional racial discrimination could be shown.


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