Capital Punishment

• 74 percent of Americans surveyed say they favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder in a 2003 Gallup poll

• Despite its public support capital punishment remains controversial in the US

Capital Punishment

• Of the 85 prisoners executed in 2000, 49 were white, of which 6 were white Hispanic; 35 were black and 1 was American Indian. 

Of the 3,593 prisoners on the death rows of U.S. prisons at the end of 2000, about 55 percent were white, 43 percent were black, with all other races represented 2 percent.

Capital Punishment: How To Kill?

Capital Punishment: How To Kill?

Capital Punishment: Ignorance Hypothesis

• Furman vs Georgia• Justice Marshall• A woman taking Social Psychology• Stuart and Vidmar

Capital Punishment: Who Do We Execute

•Of the 85 prisoners executed in 2000, 49 were white, of which 6 were white Hispanic; 35 were black and 1 was American Indian. 

•Of the 3,593 prisoners on the death rows of U.S. prisons at the end of 2000, about 55 percent were white, 43 percent were black, with all other races represented 2 percent.

•Blacks were almost five times as likely as Whites to be on death row

Executions By State (2002)

State Executions State ExecutionsTexas 33 Ohio 3Oklahoma 7 Alabama 2 Missouri 6 Mississippi 2 Georgia 4 North Carolina 2 Virginia 4 Louisiana 1Florida 3 California 1 South Carolina 3

Of 71 Executions 67 (94%) Occurred in the South

Executions Of Juveniles By State Since 1976

State Executions Texas 13Virginia 3 Oklahoma 3 Georgia 1Louisiana 1Missouri 1South Carolina 1

Of 23 Executions 23 (100%) Occurred in the South

Capital Punishment: Phillips Archival Study

•Phillips (1980) recorded reports of murders and capital punishments publicized in London between 1858 and 1921.

•Immediately after a well‑publicized execution, homicides dropped about 35%.

•Several weeks later homicides increased above the rate that would have been expected if no execution had taken place.

•When averaged over a period of six weeks, capital punishment did not influence the number of homicides.

Employing Terrorism, Guerrilla Warfare and International Conflict To

Achieve Social Influence

Reasons To Avoid This Topic

• Too controversial

• Traditional social psychology topics like conformity, attribution, aggression, etc.

• Less time can be spent talking about research from my laboratory

• There are many topics that I and other persons know more about

Reasons To Examine This Topic

• The importance of the topic suggests that social psychologists should have been studying this for years

• Social psychologists have skills and have developed a knowledge base not available to politicians, journalists, historians, etc

• Chance to talk about where we are going rather than where we have been

Premises We Will Adopt

• No moral judgment is implied in the labels ‘terrorist,’ ‘guerrilla,’ and ‘state.’ These simply describe activities that individuals and organizations employ to gain social influence.

• Terrorist, guerrilla and state organizations form a continuum. Larger organizations retain all the capacities of the smaller organizations, but smaller organizations lack some of the capacities of larger organizations.

Premises We Will Adopt

• Conceptual structures are best formed by allowing permeability between disciplines. Our structure will take from psychology, history, philosophy, art, politics, etc.

• No new forms of social interactions have occurred since 09-10-01. Thus, while we will not avoid discussing the present international climate, analysis of the current political situation is unlikely to yield any new principle of social influence.

Organizations: Definitions

• State-A organizational unit or group of allied units that maintain a military force capable of fighting conventional battles.

• Guerilla-A permanent or semi-permanent military organization that is not sufficiently strong to confront the military of a state in a conventional battle.

• Terrorist-A relatively small organization that is not sufficiently strong to maintain an identifiable group for an extended time.

Organizational Goals

• States: To 1) maintain their group in power and 2) dispense resources among the supporters of the government.

• Guerillas-To become a state

• Terrorists-To become a guerilla organization and eventually a state.

Theme 1: The Villa

Theme 1: My Friend’s Father

• What had produced the metamorphosis from executioner to kind father

• Was the image of the kind father a ruse

• Did the kind man and executioner co-exist concurrently

Theme 2: Beautiful Art

• Michaelangelo

• Jack Kerouac: On the Road

Theme 2: On The Road

• Hitchhiking as a vocation

• Blizzards and the failed photo essay

• Rescue in Ames

• Exit on Powell Street

Theme 2: Reappearance of Our Rescuer “What A Long Strange Trip It Must Have

Been”

• What social experiences led Kaczynski to renounce a successful career to become a techno-terrorist?

• Do ‘monsters’ have redeeming qualities

Theme 3: A Contrast of Leadership

• The impracticality of Pope John XXIII• Vatican Deathwatch: The morality of states• JFK at the Ambassador’s Residence

Theme 3: JFK in Berlin

• Rudolph Wilde Platz

• June 26, 1963

Theme 3: Arlington

• Gawking at the procession

• Dreams unfulfilled, a lack of closure

Theme 3: Arthur Schlesinger

• Advisor to President Kennedy

• A Thousand Days

• Age of Jackson

• The Age of Roosevelt

Theme 3: Schlesinger’s Analysis

• A sit-about Christmas: Schleisinger envisions the 21st century

• 20th Century marked by great ideological conflicts: WWI, WWII, the Cold War

• Triumph of Democracy: Destruction of empires, colonialism, fascism and Communism

Theme 3: Schlesinger’s Analysis

• Triumph of democracy creates a power vacuum

• Power vacuum allows expression of old hatreds

• Creates an international environment dominated by:

• Genocide

• Terrorism

Reign of Terror

• French Revolution: 1793-1794

• Origin of the term “terrorist.”

Jewish Terrorists: Zealots

• They believed that they served God by killing God’s enemies

• Assassinated Jews who collaborated with the Romans

• Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot may have been Zealots.

• Destroyed by Roman 10th Legion in 66 AD at Masada

American Terrorist: John Brown

• Pottawatomie Creek

• Harpers Ferry

American Terrorists: Klu Klux Klan

• Racist-protestant group established in southern US after the Civil War

• Undergone many changes throughout its history

• Still active in US

American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh

• Gulf War veteran

• Oklahoma City Bombing

American Terrorist: John Allen Muhammad

• Gulf War Veteran

• With John Lee Malvo killed 10 and wounded 3 in DC area sniper case

American Terrorist: Ted Kaczynski

• Former Berkeley professor

• Wrote Industrial Society And Its Future

Palestinian Terrorists: Hamas

• Arose during Intifada of 1987

• Has conducted suicide bombings against Israel

• Strongly opposes Yasir Arafat

Peruvian Terrorists: Shining Path

• Peruvian communist group founded in 1970• Turned to terrorism in the 1980s• Led to deaths of approximately 25000 persons• Once several thousand strong now greatly weakened

Italian Terrorists: Red Brigades

• Formed in 1969 to break Italy from western alliance

• Assassinated Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978

• Kidnapped US Army General Dozier in 1981

• Now fewer than 50 members

Research Model: Predictors of Organizational Success

Correlate 1 + . . . . . + Correlate n = Goal (success, failure)

For instance,

Strong Ideology + . . . . . + Attack State Symbols = Goal

Components of Our Analysis

• Organizations: States, guerillas, terrorists

• Citizens: Opponents and supporters of the state

• Infrastructure and Resources: Food, transportation, airports, etc.

• Communication Network: Television, radio, internet, word of mouth

Principles Guiding Our Analysis

• No moral assessment is implied in labeling a group a terrorist, guerilla or state organization. These groups are simply mechanisms for gaining social influence

• Terrorist, guerilla and state organizations have existed and will exist throughout history

• Terrorist, guerilla and state organizations have different goals and employ different strategies

• Larger organizations use strategies of smaller organizations but smaller organizations are rarely capable of using strategies of larger organizations