> This cartoon illustrates how the death penalty is used as a deterrant to homicide. The artist believe that if there were no such penalty as capital punishment, the death rate would increase.

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>       At the end of the last millennium, there were 3,539 men and 54 women on death row, from both federal government as well as state governments. The state with the most inmates on death row was California, with 586, with Texas following with 450, Florida by 371, and Pennsylvania by 238.

>    Of these prisoners on death row, 64% have a prior felony conviction and 8% have been convicted of homicide.

>    Out of 10 inmates,  4 have a criminal record at the time of their capital offense, including  18% who are on parole, 10 % on probation, and 11% with charges pending.
 

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+   Race is also a topic of many discussions:  some believe that blacks and minorities are more likely to receive the death penalty than whites. Other researches show that the race of the victim matters, more so than the race of the defendants. Percentage-wise, the blacks have a higher number of their population being executed.

 Source: World Socialist Web site

            Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics

~    The circumstances for receiving the death penalty are rape, 1st degree murder, killing a cop or fire fighter, any multiple killing. Receiving the death penalty mostly depends on if you committed any of the crime listed with another felony. For instance, say you break into someone house; rape, kill, and beat that person to death, you will get the death penalty in any state that has reinstated the death penalty.

~    The circumstances for receiving the death penalty do not vary that much from state to state. It's just that some states are using the death penalty more often than others. If you were to kill someone in the South; you would be more likely to receive the death penalty than if it was up North. Texas do not protect against a giving the death penalty to a person that have an IQ of a 7-year-old, and was the state that first try to give the death penalty to a mentally retarded person.

    There are five different methods of execution......
 

Electrocution
New york built the first electric chair in 1888.  Today electrocution is only used as a sole method od execution in only two states Nebraska and Alabama.  For execution by the chair the inmate is usually shaved and strapped to a chair with belts that cross the chest, grain, legs, and arms.  A metal skullcap shape electrode is attached to the scalp and forehead over a sponge moistened with saline.  the inmate is blindfold, a jolt of between 5000 and 2000 volts which last for about 30 seconds.  The tissues swell, defecation occurs, stream and smoke rises and there is a smell of burning.
 
 

Firing Squad
Firing squad is still a method of execution in Utah and Idaho.  For the execution the inmate is bound to a chair with leather straps across the waist and the head.  The chair is surrounded by sandbags to absorb the inmates blood.  Standing 20 feet away five shooters are armed, each shooter aims his rifle through a slot in the canvas and fires at the inmate.  The inmate dies as a result of blood loss.
 
 
 
 

Hanging
In the 1890s hanging was the primary method of execution used in the united states.  This method is still used in Delaware and Washington.  For this execution the inmate is weighed the day before, for practice using a sandbag with the same weight (this usually takes about 45 minutes). The prisoner's hands and legs are secured and they are blindfolded and the noose is placed around the neck, with the knot placed behind the ear. The execution takes place when the trapdoor is opened and the prisoner falls through. "The face becomes engorged, the tongues protrudes, the eyes pop, the body defecates, and violent movement of the limbs occur."
 

Lethal Injection
Oklahoma became the first state to adopt the lethal injection. Today 36 out of 38 states that have the death penalty use this method. There are several heat monitors on the skin; two needles are positioned, of which one is the backup. It is then inserted into the usable veins, which is usually located in the inmate's arms. The first is a harmless saline solution that started immediately. The inmate is injected with the sodium thiopental which puts them the sleep and then pancuronium bromide is injected to paralyze the inmate's entire muscle system. Eventually the inmates stops screaming. The actual death occurs from anesthetic overdose and respiratory cardiac arrest.
 

Gas Chamber
Only five states authorize legal gas as a method of execution. The inmate is strapped to a chair in an air tight chamber. A stethoscope is attached to the inmate so the doctor, outside the chamber, can pronounce the death. Everyone leaves the chamber, and a signal is given to the executioner, who will then flick a lever that releases crystals of sodium cyanide into the pail. A chemical reaction turns it into hydrogen cyanide gas. The inmate is instructed to take deep breaths to speed up the process. As a result of the gas, the eyes pop, the skin turns purple hue and the victims begins to drool. The inmates dies from cutting off the oxygen to the brain.
 

Crime Rates Between States
 
 

*        Individual state analysis shows that states with the death penalty have 48% to 101% higher homicide rates than those without the penalty.

*        Another study also has shown that the threat of death does not deter most criminals. The states with death penalty and the states without have similar, symmetrical paths in the homicide rates.  "I have inquired for most of my adult life about studies that might show that the death penalty is a deterrent. And I have not seen any research that would substantiate that point," said Janet Reno.

    The southern part of the country is more likely to give out the death penalty. Over 80% of the death penalty given out occurred in the South. The Northeast is responsible for less than 1%. The Southern states such as Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, and Texas are called "the death penalty belt" because of the alacrity in which they sentence inmates to death.

    In October of 1999, the south was the only region with the death rates over the national average.
 
 

 It may also have something to do with the weather:    In Mexico, there are speed bumps ever fifteen or so feet so that the drivers, being frustrated by the weather, would not speed. Maybe in the South, where the weather is more humid and hot, people are aggravated more easily and in a way, kill more easily. *** THIS IS ONLY A SPECULATION***

Wrongful Convictions

        Many death row inmates have been released because of recent DNA testing, recanted testimonies, and on the re-evaluation of the trial. At least 85 inmates have released in the face of this new evidence. The question arises if the death penalty is as moral as it is played in the media. There are new technology that prove the inmates' innocence, where there were none before. Who knows, that in the next twenty years, that some other gadgets would come along and prove many more innocent?

        The governor of Illinois, George Ryan, imposed a moratorium on death penalty in January of 2000. 80 inmates have been released from death row since 1973. The annual average used to be 2.5. From 1993 to 2000, the annual average rose to 4.6. One theory states that the governments have increased the circumstances in which the death penalty is given, and thus more people, innocent among them, are sentenced to death.

        Also, the period of wait between being sentenced and being executed has shortened to about eight years. Proving innocence takes a lot more time than that, and more innocent people may be executed.

        A major reason that so many innocents are convicted is because of the lawyers assigned by the court. Some lawyers hired to represent defendants do not care about the trial, as well as others who have the audacity to sleep during court and are drunk half the time. Other lawyers have too much work and are underpaid, and so cannot represent a person during the trial that decides his life.

        New York and Illinois are the top of the list of known wrongful convictions, whereas South Carolina only has four. Illinois has 42 innocent that were convicted and sentenced to death row, and New York has 32. Texas and California come third and fourth, with 27 and 21, respectively. Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Idaho are at the bottom with only 1 wrongful conviction, each.  There is no certain region where more errors are made than others. Most of these inmates (170 cases) were found innocent when the actual culprti was found, 103 cases in which DNA testing proved their innocence, 15 in which their alibi was found to be solid, and ironically, there were 8 cases where the victims were actually found alive.

        Different states have different opinions about capital punishment. Not all states use the death penalty, but the states that did reinstate the death penalty have different circumstances that lead to the death penalty.
        There are many questions about the death penalty. The morality, as well as cost, deterrent quality, and possible errors create many doubts about using the death penalty. Some research shows that the southern region use capital punishment more frequently than other parts of the United States. Other anti death penalty data have concluded that the death penalty is dealt racially biased.
        All methods of execution are inhumane and cruel. The majority of inmates suffer horribly. Yet their crimes which led them to death row are equally, if not more, horrible. Therefore, based on the research, there is no 'right' answer to capital punishment.