Deck 7: The Death Penalty

Question 1

______ consistently has the highest support for the death penalty.

A) Hispanics
B) Asian Americans
C) African Americans
D) Native Americans

Answer 1

C

Question 2

It is likely the death penalty is still used as a punishment in the United States because ______.

A) it is effective
B) it makes a crucial point to the world
C) the punishment fits the crime
D) of strong public support

Answer 2

D

Question 3

North Carolina's repealed ______ Act attempted to ensure there is no racial bias in the application of the death penalty.

A) Racial Justice
B) Capital Justice
C) Death Penalty Fairness
D) Death Penalty Justice

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The theory that posits that states replaced lynchings with the death penalty is known as the ______ theory.

A) replacement
B) conversion
C) substitution
D) return

Question 5

Which of the following countries has eliminated the death penalty?

A) Belgium
B) Portugal
C) France
D) Israel

Question 6

The 1976 Supreme Court decision that allowed states that used guided discretion statutes to reinstitute the death penalty was ______.

A) Furman v. Georgia
B) Plessy v. Ferguson
C) Gregg v. Georgia
D) McCleskey v. Kemp

Question 7

The ______ Project examined numerous aspects of jurors who served on cases involving the death penalty.

A) Capital Jury
B) Jury Consultant
C) Forensic Jury
D) Jury Research

Question 8

The actions of former Illinois Governor George Ryan sparked the ______ movement.

A) Death Penalty Moratorium
B) truth-in-sentencing
C) mandatory minimum
D) corporal punishment

Question 9

Which philosophy is based on the premise that the criminal justice system works for most citizens, and society can tolerate it when a small number of citizens are wrongfully convicted?

A) Marxian
B) Freudian
C) utilitarian
D) positivist

Question 10

In 1740, ______ imposed the death penalty on slaves and free Blacks for burning or destroying any grain, commodities, or manufactured goods.

A) Texas
B) North Carolina
C) Florida
D) South Carolina

Question 11

Most of the offenders on death row had ______ level of education.

A) some college
B) high school diploma or less
C) associate degree
D) bachelor's degree

Question 12

The 1972 decision in ______ ruled that the death penalty as it was being administered was being applied in an arbitrary and capricious manner.

A) Furman v. Georgia
B) Batson v. Kentucky
C) McCleskey v. Kemp
D) Coker v. Georgia

Question 13

Which of the following cases resulted in the decision that kidnappings cannot be punished with the death penalty?

A) McCleskey v. Kemp
B) Batson v. Kentucky
C) Coker v. Georgia
D) Eberheart v. Georgia

Question 14

Most offenders on death row are ______.

A) never married
B) divorced
C) married
D) separated

Question 15

The ______ study was used to support the arguments in the McCleskey case.

A) Brown
B) Smith
C) Jones
D) Baldus

Question 16

Which of the following Supreme Court Justices is known for the hypotheses regarding public opinion on the death penalty?

A) Sandra Day O'Conner
B) Thurgood Marshall
C) Clarence Thomas
D) Earl Warren

Question 17

Most of the offenders on death row ______.

A) are first time offenders
B) were previously convicted for homicide
C) have prior convictions
D) claim they were wrongly convicted

Question 18

Most people on death row are ______.

A) White
B) Hispanic
C) Black
D) Native American

Question 19

According to recent homicide research, when ______ segment of society is the victim, the perpetrator is more likely to receive the death penalty.

A) men
B) women
C) minorities
D) juveniles

Question 20

In this 1987 decision, the Supreme Court case challenged the constitutionality of the death penalty based on race discrimination in its application.

A) Batson v. Kentucky
B) Jones v. Memphis
C) McCleskey v. Kemp
D) U.S. v. Brown

Question 21

Over the 50-year period between 1936 and 1986, public opinion data on the death penalty found support for the death penalty close to what level?

A) 40%
B) 20%
C) 60%
D) 80%

Question 22

English law was so brutal it was referred to as the ______ code.

A) death
B) murder
C) bloody
D) stringent

Question 23

Briefly explain the current trends related to the federal death penalty.

Question 24

Blacks with higher incomes tend to be more approving of the death penalty than lower income Blacks.

Question 25

Which one of the following states allows judicial overrides in death penalty sentencing?

A) Texas
B) Alabama
C) Mississippi
D) Arkansas

Question 26

Which state has executed the most offenders since 1977?

A) Virginia
B) Texas
C) Maryland
D) Pennsylvania

Question 27

During the slave era, masters were not compensated for the execution of their slaves.

Question 28

There is a moratorium on the death penalty in only two states.

Question 29

In the Furman v. Georgia case, William Henry Furman's lawyers argued that guided discretion statues remove the concern that a jury could impose the death penalty in an arbitrary and capricious manner.

Question 30

The Innocence Project has found that, of those exonerated from the death penalty by the use of DNA, 57% have been Black.

Question 31

Strong public support for the death penalty is the likely reason that it is still used as a punishment in the United States.

Question 32

With the concept of ______, it is commonly thought that there is a general denial that racism exists in American society.

A) colorblindness
B) ethnic threat
C) ethnic relief
D) displaced discrimination

Question 33

According to a 2104 Gallup Poll, the leading reason for supporting the death penalty was ______.

A) an eye for an eye
B) to set an example
C) the cost associated with prison
D) religious reasons

Question 34

Which of the following was the leading reason people reported opposing the death penalty, according to a 2014 Gallup Poll?

A) It costs more to keep prisoners on death row.
B) The death penalty does not deter people from committing murder.
C) Persons may be wrongfully convicted.
D) It is wrong to take a life.

Question 35

Most of the persons who have been executed since the reinstitution of the death penalty in 1977 were White.

Question 36

______ are tasked with investigating wrongful conviction claims.

A) Conviction Investigation Units
B) Conviction Integrity Units
C) Conviction Emancipation Units
D) Conviction Inspection Units

Question 37

A 1994 study by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights reported that ______ had caused a dramatic racial disparity in federal death penalty prosecutions.

A) the race-of-the-victim effect
B) the attorney general
C) guided discretion statutes
D) drug kingpin laws

Question 38

Briefly explain the case of Furman v. Georgia.

Question 39

Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall hypothesized that the American public is well-informed about capital punishment.

Question 40

As compensation for individuals wrongly convicted of the death penalty, The Innocence Project recommends $50,000 as a minimum for each year spent in prison. In providing $80,000 a year in compensation, ______ emerged as the state that provides the most comprehensive annual compensation.

A) Colorado
B) Texas
C) Massachusetts
D) Arkansas

Question 41

Briefly explain the positive and negatives of judicial overrides.

Question 42

Discuss four (4) characteristics involved in wrongful convictions.

Question 43

Briefly explain the significance of McCleskey v. Georgia.

Question 44

Discuss why you oppose or support the death penalty.

Question 45

Discuss the primary challenges faced by the wrongfully convicted who are exonerated.

Question 46

Provide a brief overview of McCleskey v. Kemp, noting its primary impacts to the criminal justice system.

Question 47

Briefly discuss the death penalty moratorium movement.

Question 48

Provide a brief overview of Gregg v. Georgia, noting its primary impacts to the criminal justice system.

Question 49

Briefly explain the significance of the substitution thesis/Zimring analysis.

Question 50

Discuss the nature of the death penalty during the Colonial era.

Question 51

Provide a brief overview of Coker v. Georgia, noting its primary impacts to the criminal justice system.

Question 52

Briefly explain the current state of the research on the validity of the Marshall Hypotheses.