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Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits "cruel and unusual

- 2 /~/ 1/ *P U/ Convicted killers punishments," allow it? And is death the 1~ Janeen Snyder and Michael right punishment for the worst crimes?

~ ,~ Thornton were sentenced to A majority of Americans-54 percent, die. But California has placed a moratorium on executions.

according to a Gallup poll-still say they support the death penalty for convicted murderers. But that number has dropped considerably since 1994, when 80 percent

- I ichelle Curran, 16, was 23rd state to abolish the death penalty. of Americans supported it. 1 ~ ~ walking to her high It's one of seven states that have "What we're seeing is the death U

school in Las Vegas on the eliminated capital punishment in the past penalty withering on the vine without ~ morning of April 4, 2001, decade. Besides California, two more any need for the Supreme Court to be ~ when she was kidnapped states that allow the death penalty- involved," says Brandon Garrett, a law

E by 21-year-old Janeen Snyder and her Oregon and Pennsylvania-have officially professor at Duke University who's ~ 45-year-old boyfriend, Michael Thornton halted all executions (see map, p. 11). written a book about the death penalty. & For 13 days, the couple abused and Even in the places where the death "There are only a handful of counties in M tortured Michelle before they shot her penalty remains oIl the books, it's being the country that are imposing the death 2 in the head and left her body in a horse used less. Fifteen death penalty states penalty. We shouldn't even talk about E trailer in Southern California. haven't executed anyone in the past five 'death penalty states.' We should talk: 3 In 2006, Snyder and Thornton years. New death sentences nationwide about 'death penalty counties. U

& were both convicted of murder and are down from a high of 315 in 1996 to But supporters of capital punishment 5 sentenced to death. 18 in 2021. Annual executions see it as a critical part of ourSeven"It was sick what these people did to have dropped from 98 in 1999 justice system. 5 her," Michelle's mother, Candy Curran, to 11 in 2021. states have For some crimes, anything U

M told reporters after the conviction. "They "The death penalty is abolished less is not justice," says Kent .

j got what they deserved." disappearing in most of the the death Scheidegger of the Criminal & Michelle's torture and murder is country-that's been a 25-year penalty in Justice Legal Foundation, a ~ exactly the kind of horrific crime that trend," says Robert Dunham, the past victims' rights group. "For the A the death penalty is intended for. But executive director of the Death decade. families of victims, there is 0:

E two decades later, those sentences have Penalty Information Center, a sense of relief and finality 3

j yet to be carried out, and Snyder and which opposes the practice. "There are when the death penalty is actually ~ Thornton remain on death row. In 2019, only a handful of states in which it is carried out." * California Governor Gavin Newsom put actually being carried out." Scheidegger also believes that 6 a moratorium on all executions in the putting a convicted murderer to death 1 state, declaring that capital punishment 'Cruel and Unusual'? is the only certain way to prevent that i is fundamentally flawed. There has long been a debate over person from doing harm again. .

5 California's moratorium is part of the ethics and usefulness of capital Americans have long debated the 3 a broader move away from the death punishment. Should the government morality of capital punishment. Many .

3 penalty. Last year, Virginia became the put people to death? Does the Eighth death penalty supporters interpret the

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NOVEMBER 21, 2022 9

biblical phrase "an eye for an eye and the death penalty. According to Amnesty it were arbitrary and inconsistent. a tooth for a tooth" to mean that those International, a human rights group, Instead, the Court imposed a vho commit murder should meet the the countries that execute the most moratorium on executions until states

same fate. people are China, Iran, Egypt, Saudi could ensure that it was being reserved Death penalty supporters argue that Arabia, and Syria. (In 2021, the U.S. for the worst offenders. The death

capital punishment serves as a deterrent, ranked eighth on the list.) penalty was reintroduced in 1976. stopping would-be killers, since they fear "The United States is totally an Since then, at least 1,550 people

the possibility of execution. And many outlier," says Carol Steiker, a professor at have been put to death, most by lethal think that putting a killer to death can Harvard Law School with expertise in the injection. Looking for a method of bring some closure and sense of justice death penalty. "We're the only Western execution that would be more humane to a victim's family. developed country that still has and less gruesome than the

Opponents argue that kining is wrong the death penalty." 'For some electric chair or hanging, no matter who's doing it, even if it's crimes, states turned to lethal the government, and that it's too final a A Long History anything injection in the 1980s. punishment in a world where mistakes The death penalty in the U.S. less is not But in recent years,

can happen. Indeed, 190 death row dates to colonial times, when justice.' it's become increasingly inmates have been exonerated since European settlers brought difficult to obtain the drugs 1973, based on DNA and other evidence. capital punishment to the New World. required for this method of execution.

Opponents also point to statistics that For centuries, hanging was the most Since 2016, all major American drug

indicate the death penalty discriminates common method (see "Methods of manufacturers have refused to sell drugs against African Americans, who Execution," p. 9). By the 1950s, most for the purpose of executions. This has

make up about 14 percent of the U.S. states were using either the gas chamber forced prison systems to try untested population but more than 40 percent or electric chair. drug combinations and to get the drugs of death row inmates. In 1972, the Supreme Court seemed from compounding pharmacies-loosely

Internationally, more than 70 percent to be on the verge of declaring capital regulated labs that mix drugs to order. of the world's countries, including all of punishment unconstitutional, because In recent years, a number of botched Europe except Belarus, have abolished it said the standards for applying executions have taken hours to carry out

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1,_14 1 ~#14] 1 1 1 0 tk~Hi~r:·5 1*. fl '--L' r, ' 1 1, {¥], .p1972 2, 131 1 imili&98281 i VIFurman v. Georgia ~ 4 N ~ -----~. [lena Magan ~

Imposes a nationwide 1-. moratorium on the death 1 4 - -:Il- 9"1 Leans liberal I,~1.*- , 14'.1 .4 9:, f.0„!~:4 j. ./3,3~1 .el penalty, which the Court -

+ Arru says is being applied in an ~.Illgi~ '""'~~ Chief Justice Ketanji Brown -7,111 r FI,1(11] t tl k'Dll arbitrary and inconsistent John Roberts Jackson ~0 manner. Leans conservative Leans liberal

r'.9 . 91976 Gregg v. Georgia ; .

Reinstates the death penalty after states 2005 Roper v. Simmons 2008 TODAY address the Court's Kennedy v. Lou/s/ana concerns. Bars the execution With conservative justices

of juvenile offenders. Restricts the death penalty holding six of the Court's

2002 to crimes in which the nine seats, experts say the Atkins v. Virginia 2008 Baze v. Rees victim is killed or to cases Supreme Court is unlikely

' of treason. in the near future to Bars the execution Rules that execution by declare capital punishment of the mentally disabled. lethal injection is not a cruel unconstitutional.

and unusual punishment.

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Alaska and Hawaii are not drawn out since Jan . 2018 ; to scale or placed in their no number means proper geographic positions. SOURCE : Death Penalty Information Center, Sept . 15 , 2022 no executions .

and seemed to cause extreme suffering, in Virginia. "I never thought rd see this." penalty is giving the state way more further stining debate on whether the Virginia's then-governor, Ralph power than it should have." method is unnecessarily cruel. Northam, noted racial disparities in the Despite the dwindling use of capital

Over the past 20 years, the U.S. state's use of the death penalty: During punishment, legal experts say the current , Supreme Court has issued several the 20th century, 296 of the 377 inmates Supreme Court isn't likely to rule against

rulings restricting use of the death Virginia executed for murder-or about the death penalty anytime soon. But penalty (see 'Key Rulings," leA). In 2002, 79 percent-were Black. the Court may not be able to ignore the the Court barred the execution of the Bills to abolish the death penalty are trends on the ground forever. mentally disabled. Three years later, the pending in Ohio and Pennsylvania. In In assessing whether a punishment Court ruled that capital punishment for both states, a bipartisan group is constitutional, Steiker says juvenile offenders is unconstitutional. of Republicans and Democrats 'The death the Court looks at whether

are leading the efforts to end penalty it's "consistent with evolving A Turning Point? capital punishment. is giving standards o f decency." In Many death penalty experts see Virginia's Increasingly, some the state other words, she says, the decision to abolish the death penalty last conservative Republicans, who way more less capital punishment is year as particularly significant. Virginia have traditionally supported power than being used, the more it looks had a 413-year history with capital the death penalty, are opposing it should out of step with current punishment during which it executed it now. For some, it costs have.' standards of decency. more than 1,300 inmates, more than any too much and is therefore "The really, really other state. In the past 50 years, Virginia fiscally irresponsible. Others see it as reduced use of the death penalty carried out more executions than any inappropriate government intervention. lays the groundwork for an eventual other state except Texas. "I don't trust the government to constitutional abolition," Steiker says.

"It's astonishing that a state deliver my mail on time-why in the "Eventually, that will be how American like Virginia ...a state that so world would I trust the government abolition happens. And I do think it will

~ enthusiastically embraced the death with literally my life?" says Demetrius happen, but not in my generation." • g penalty is abolishing it," says Todd Minor of Conservatives Concerned 0 Peppers, a professor at Roanoke College About the Death Penalty. "The death With reporting by Hailey Fuchs of The Times.

NOVEMBER 21, 2022 11

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