create an outline of a possible literature review based on the topics you identified in Week 8 related to the 10 articles you previously critiqued in your Annotated Bibliography (in Weeks 6, 7, and 8).
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Capital Punishment
Jailya Wooden
DPSY 8700
January 15, 2023
Sorensen, J., & Pilgrim, R. L. (2006).
Lethal injection: Capital punishment in Texas during the modern era. University of Texas Press.
In their study, Sorensen and Pilgrim (2006) identify that several state issues continue to attract a lot of national attention and controversy with the application of the death penalty in Texas. In the years following the death penalty was reestablished in 1976, Texas took the top position in the country in executing prisoners and reinforcing the death sentences. The rate at which Texas is implementing capital punishment continues to raise questions, and many scholars are starting to question the reason behind the persistence. Others explore whether the death penalty is producing any positive outcomes and whether the state has successfully eliminated perpetrators. Other scholars are questioning whether the rights of the citizens have trespassed during the implementation of the penalty and whether some people have been falsely accused. The authors identify that finding answers to these questions is essential, forming the primary objective of publishing this book by using rich information sources primarily from confidential prisoner records and numerous statistical sources. This will help challenge traditional preconceptions regarding guilt, deterrence, racial bias, and the implementation of capital punishment in this state.
Serrano, B. (2020). Stuck between Growing up and Grown up: Delaying the Sentencing Phase for Young Adults Facing Capital Punishment in Texas.
Tex. Tech L. Rev.,
53, 843.
Serrano (2020) starts by recognizing that prior research has been indicating that there is future danger associated with the standard relied on by juries in Texas when deciding on whether a capital offender should be sentenced to death can contribute to inaccurate forecasting. The authors state that this is already challenging to reinforce the standard when capital offenders between 18 and 25 years come into view. The author also identifies that other studies found out that since the Supreme Court decided to put juveniles on death row no longer, the brain development of these young adults between 18 and 25 years differs from that of minors. The reason for this is that the juveniles lack brain maturity and the absence of impulse control, and the young defendants are found to maintain a certain level of propensity towards risky behaviors. These aspects make it challenging for a judging panel on capital cases to tell the difference between the traits that a particular person can be a “future danger” to society since these traits can improve with older years.
The authors also identify that some aspects utilized by prosecutors in proving that the defendant can be a future danger include expert testimony, criminal history, and character evidence. However, the author identifies that these pieces are insufficient in determining which individuals will be a threat and who will improve their behavior; therefore, age cannot be relied on while ruling out criminals. The author thus pinpoints that if the standard does not differentiate between criminals adequately, the judges are arbitrarily sentencing perpetrators to death row, which violates the 8th Amendment of the American constitution. According to this article, capital offenders undergo a different trial to assess their punishment. Therefore the courts in Texas must wait until the defendant attains the age of 25 years and then decide to execute the offender. This will ultimately make a prosecutor’s expert testimony, the defendant’s offense history, and character evidence more potent because they can assess the level of their brain development by analyzing their behavior while in the justice system.
RUNNING HEAD: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
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5
Annotated Bibliography
Jailya Wooden
Walden University
DPSY 8700
January 22, 2023
Smith, P. (2022). Is the death penalty on the way out? More states are abolishing, fewer juries are handing down death sentences, and the number of executions is falling.
The New York Times
.
The article’s purpose was to introduce the issue of capital punishment in the form of the death sentence, whereby individuals have different arguments regarding whether the penalty should remain in practice. The article provides an example of a murder case where two individuals brutally murdered a woman, and her killers received the death sentence, which later was put on hold as the county in which they were going back to rethink the death penalty approach. The article is, therefore, relevant in its ability to depict how the death penalty works by providing an example of a case where the same was put into practice. However, it also provided the needed approach of outlining that the death penalty has widely reduced in support from an overwhelming 80% support in the 90s to 54% in 2021. This can be used to indicate a need for change in the reforms related to this area.
Cloninger, D. O. (1992). Capital punishment and deterrence: a portfolio approach.
Applied Economics, 24(6), 635-645.
The article sought to analyze the relationship between the impacts of the death sentence as capital punishment and the aftermath in terms of the expectation of a decline in crime rate to mean that by imparting capital punishment, the overall number of homicides was expected to decrease. However, the article noted that there were aspects that availed the needed environment for crimes to exist, even in cases where the death sentence was used as a tool of caution in any given society. This was further associated with the idea that there was no way of ensuring that the portfolio crime rate did not change or alter. In such a case, it was easier to assign that the death sentence alone could not be expected to resolve the idea of crime, especially homicides. This article would thus help rationalize the idea that the death sentence is not crucial in controlling crime, especially when it comes to homicides.
Decker, S. H., & Kohfeld, C. W. (1990). The deterrent effect of capital punishment in the five most active execution states A time series analysis.
Criminal Justice Review, 15(2), 173-191.
Similar to the second study, this study analyzed the death sentence’s effect on the overall crime rate with the hope that there could be a unique pattern or algorithm for the identification of the relationship between the existence of the death sentence and the number of crimes every year. However, it was noted that while the death penalty was a significant factor in many proceedings that involved homicides, it did not indeed bear great significance in the number of crimes committed each year. This meant that people were not genuinely controlled by such laws or possible sentencing in their overall decision-making regarding the idea of committing a crime. By this finding, the article argued that such a law was of no consequence to the need to reduce crime, particularly homicides. This article can therefore be used in articulating an approach to prove the lack of use of such punishment using a well-investigated and documented study that was conducted using years of data.
References
Cloninger, D. O. (1992). Capital punishment and deterrence: a portfolio approach.
Applied Economics, 24(6), 635-645.
Decker, S. H., & Kohfeld, C. W. (1990). The deterrent effect of capital punishment in the five most active execution states A time series analysis.
Criminal Justice Review, 15(2), 173-191.
Smith, P. (2022). Is the death penalty on the way out? More states are abolishing, fewer juries are handing down death sentences, and the number of executions is falling.
The New York Times.
2
Annotated Bibliography
Jailya Wooden
Walden University
DPSY 8700
January 8, 2023
Annotated Bibliography
Desai, A., & Garrett, B. L. (2018). The state of the death penalty. Notre Dame L. Rev., 94, 1255.
This article provides an overview of the current state of the death penalty in the United States. The authors examine the legal and empirical evidence of the death penalty and its application in the United States and other countries. They compare the efficacy of the death penalty to other forms of punishment and discuss the ethical implications of its use. The authors also discuss the potential for reform of the death penalty and the role of the Supreme Court in the application of the death penalty. Lastly, they explore the implications of the death penalty on the lives of individuals, communities, and society as a whole. The authors use legal, empirical, and ethical arguments to make their case for the reform of the death penalty and its application in the United States.
Godcharles, B. D., Rad, J. D., Heide, K. M., Cochran, J. K., & Solomon, E. P. (2019). Can empathy close the racial divide and gender gap in death penalty support? Behavioral sciences & the law, 37(1), 16-37.
This article examines the effects of empathy on the support for the death penalty in the United States. The authors focus on the racial divide and gender gap in death penalty support and assess whether empathy can bridge these gaps. To this end, the authors surveyed 524 undergraduate students in which they measured empathy and death penalty support. Then, they conducted a multiple regression analysis to explore the moderating effects of empathy on the racial divide and gender gap in death penalty support. The authors found that empathy did have a moderating impact on death penalty support, with higher levels of empathy associated with lower levels of death penalty support. The authors concluded that empathy could be used to reduce the racial divide and gender gap in death penalty support and, thus, can be used as a tool to reduce the support for the death penalty in the United States.
Kastellec, J. P. (2021). Race, context, and judging on the Courts of Appeals: Race-based panel effects in death penalty cases. Justice System Journal, 42(3-4), 394-415.
This article examines how the race of the defendant, the race of the judges, and the context of the case affect the likelihood of the defendant receiving the death penalty. The article looks at the data from the Courts of Appeals for death penalty cases from 1985 to 2003. The article finds that when a majority of the panel is Black, the probability of receiving the death penalty decreases, and when the defendant is Black, the probability of receiving the death penalty increases. The article also finds that the context of the case, such as the type of crime committed and the state in which it occurred, significantly affects the likelihood of receiving the death penalty. The article concludes that the race of the defendant and the judges, and the context of the case, all affect the likelihood of the defendant receiving the death penalty. This article is a valuable resource for discussing the effects of the death penalty in America, as it provides detailed evidence of the role race and context play in the likelihood of the defendant receiving the death penalty.
Sharp, S. F. (2005). Hidden victims: The effects of the death penalty on families of the accused. Rutgers University Press.
This book provides an in-depth analysis of the effects of the death penalty on the families of those accused of capital crimes. It investigates the death penalty’s legal, social, and psychological impacts on these families. Sharp considers the effects of the death penalty on the accused’s immediate family and other relatives, as well as their friends and neighbors. The author also discusses the effects of the death penalty on the accused’s children and how it can impact their educational and economic opportunities. The book is invaluable for understanding the human cost of the death penalty in America.
Wu, S. (2022). The effect of wrongful conviction rate on death penalty support: a research note. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 18(4), 871-884.
This study examines the effect of the wrongful conviction rate on public support for the death penalty in America. The authors surveyed more than 1,500 American adults to analyze how the wrongful conviction rate affects their support for the death penalty. The survey results showed a significant correlation between the wrongful conviction rate and support for the death penalty. The authors concluded that the higher the wrongful conviction rate, the lower the support for the death penalty. This study provides important insights into understanding the effects of the death penalty in America and the public’s attitude towards the death penalty. This research can inform policymakers on the public’s opinion of the death penalty to make more informed decisions.
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