Die Arbeit verschafft einen Überblick über die Todesstrafe in der USA. Dabei wird versucht die gesamte Geschichte der Todesstrafe von der Kolonialzeit bis heute zu skizzieren. Anhand ausgewählter Fälle des Obersten Gerichtshofes (vor allem aus den 1960er Jahren) werden Verfassungsmässigkeit etc. bestimmter Fälle diskutiert. Insgesamt verschafft die Arbeit einen guten Überblick über das gesamte Todesstrafensystem der USA (nur auf jurisitischer, nicht politischer oder moralischer Ebene)
Electrocution, lethal injection, gas chamber, hanging, shooting, beheading or stoning are different ways or instruments to execute a person who is sentenced to death.
Death penalty or capital punishment means the intentional killing of a person who is guilty to have committed a certain crime. After a legal trial, the person is sentenced to death. The way by which the death is put into effect depends on the country and its laws.
Death penalty or capital punishment is a very controversial topic concerning political, judicial and moral issues.
This paper will be about the death penalty prior in the United States of America.
In part I, I will present some facts and figures as well as give a short introduction to death penalty in general. I think it will be also necessary to outline the history of the death penalty in the United States. I will give a short overview of the most important developments from colonial times until the 1950s.
The 1960s constituted a big challenge for the legality and constitutionality of the death penalty. That is why I will analyze this period in particular in Part II of this work. I will present selected Supreme Court Cases and their decisions. Thus, I will try to elaborate the judicial developments of the death penalty in the United States. Therefore, I will deal with cases regarding the constitutionality of the death penalty; furthermore with cases on death penalty laws and limitations of the death penalty.
I want to emphasize that I will concentrate primarily on the judicial aspects of this topic, I will not deal with moral or political issues, but they might be mentioned additionally. By this means, I would like to examine how the death penalty is anchored in U.S. law and to find out which cases played an important role and contributed to this development. In so doing, I will draft a picture of the death penalty system in the United States.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Introduction to the topic
- Basic ideas
- Facts and Figures
- History of the Death Penalty in the USA until the 1950s
- Selected Supreme Court Cases
- Determining the Constitutionality of the Death Penalty
- Challenging the Death Penalty in the 1960s
- Suspending the Death Penalty
- Reinstating the Death Penalty
- Refining Death Penalty Laws
- Limiting the Death Penalty
- Death Penalty for rape is held unconstitutional
- Further adjudications on the limitation of the death penalty
- Mental illness and mental retardation
- Race
- Juveniles
Objectives and Key Themes
This paper aims to analyze the history of the death penalty in the United States by examining selected Supreme Court cases. The paper will focus on judicial developments, particularly those related to the constitutionality, refinement, and limitations of death penalty laws.
- The constitutionality of the death penalty in the United States.
- The development of death penalty laws in the United States.
- The limitations on the death penalty, including considerations of race, mental illness, and age.
- The role of the Supreme Court in shaping the death penalty system in the United States.
- The historical context of the death penalty in the United States, particularly from colonial times to the 1950s.
Chapter Summaries
The introduction provides a basic overview of the death penalty, including its historical context in the United States and its legal basis in the Constitution. It also presents relevant statistics and figures about the death penalty globally and in the US. The paper then focuses on the 1960s, a period marked by significant legal challenges to the death penalty. This section analyzes key Supreme Court cases that dealt with the constitutionality of the death penalty, its suspension, and its eventual reinstatement.
Keywords
The key themes and topics explored in this paper include the death penalty, capital punishment, U.S. Supreme Court, constitutional law, judicial development, legal challenges, limitations, race, mental illness, age, history, colonial times, and the 1960s.
- Quote paper
- Jacqueline Herrmann (Author), 2007, The History of the Death Penalty in the United States, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/86898
