3
U. S. History Evaluating the Death Penalty Due Date: 9/30/11 Directions: Students, you will be required to research popular local and national court cases where the death penalty has been issued as punishment. Before you begin researching these cases, state at the beginning of your paper whether or not you are for or against the death penalty. If you are against the death penalty, state how you believe that the convicted should be punished. If you are undecided, you may want to check out the website http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.resource.php? resourceID=002000 . It lists the top 10 pros and cons for death penalty sentences. The reasons range from questions of morality to income level of the accused. First, state the case and give a brief description of the crime. Explain why the death penalty was deemed the appropriate punishment, and whether or not you agreement with the judgment. Do not write a simple “yes, I agree” or “no, I disagree”. Explain in detail why or why not this is/isn’t an appropriate punishment (in your opinion). For example, if you believe that the evidence was too circumstantial and that the prosecutor did not

Evaluating the death penalty

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Evaluating the death penalty

U. S. History

Evaluating the Death Penalty

Due Date: 9/30/11

Directions:

Students, you will be required to research popular local and national court cases where the death penalty has been issued as punishment.

Before you begin researching these cases, state at the beginning of your paper whether or not you are for or against the death penalty. If you are against the death penalty, state how you believe that the convicted should be punished. If you are undecided, you may want to check out the website http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=002000. It lists the top 10 pros and cons for death penalty sentences. The reasons range from questions of morality to income level of the accused.

First, state the case and give a brief description of the crime. Explain why the death penalty was deemed the appropriate punishment, and whether or not you agreement with the judgment. Do not write a simple “yes, I agree” or “no, I disagree”.

Explain in detail why or why not this is/isn’t an appropriate punishment (in your opinion). For example, if you believe that the evidence was too circumstantial and that the prosecutor did not prove their case, tell me that. If you think that the person was mentally unstable, state that. If you think that the defendant’s counsel failed them, write that. Full credit will only be awarded for responses that reflect both your effort and your ability to think critically.

At the end of your research assignment, I want you to state whether or not your position has changed or even waivered slightly based on the cases that you had to research.

Finally, review your notes and list which cases you found to be the most interesting.

Cases:

Page 2: Evaluating the death penalty

1. Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks (You can find a very useful article on their case by googling the Mississippi innocence project. The link for it is: http://mississippiinnocence.org/cases/kennedy-brewer/).

2. Claude Jones (Texas, year 2000)

3. Cameron Todd Willingham (Texas, 2004)

4. Troy Davis

5. David Spence

6. Cleve Foster (Texas, 2011)

7. Lawrence Russell Brewer (Texas, 2011)

8. Roderrick Justin Ferrell

9. Shim Forrest (Paris, TN)

10. Daryl Holton (Tennessee)

11. Karla Faye Tucker

12. Earl Wesley Berry (Mississippi)

Research Dr. Michael West and Stephen Hayne (MS) and state whether or not you think Mississippi should re-open cases where their testimony was the solitary factor in determining guilt. If the cases were to be re-opened, and the accused were to be found innocent, how should the state of Mississippi go about restoring justice for them? Do you think that there should be financial compensation? Should cost be a factor in determining whether or not cases should be re-evaluated? If second trials were to be granted, do you think the accused would be able to get a fair trial in Mississippi? Or should there be a change of venue?