Capital Punishment

David L. Hudson Jr. is an award-winning professor at Belmont University College of Law, USA, where he teaches constitutional law and First Amendment law.

• Table of ContentsReaders Guide to Related Documents and SidebarsPrefaceIntroduction1. Early History of the Death PenaltyDocument 1. John Stuart Mill Defends Capital Punishment (1868)Document 2. Supreme Court Finds Death by Shooting is Not Cruel and Unusual Punishment - Wilkerson v. Utah (1879)Document 3. Supreme Court Rules Electrocution Is Not Cruel and Unusual Punishment - In Re Kemmler (1890)Document 4. Supreme Court Approves Death by Hanging - Holden v. Minnesota (1890)Document 5. Supreme Court Fails to Find Racial Discrimination in Mississippi All-White Juries - Williams v. Mississippi (1898)Document 6. Supreme Court Rejects Death Row Inmate’s Due Process Challenge - Davis v. Burke (1900)2. Rising Usage of—and Opposition to—the Death PenaltyDocument 7. Supreme Court Rejects Pink Franklin’s Constitutional Challenges to Jim Crow Law - Franklin v. South Carolina (1910)Document 8. Supreme Court Rules Criminal Defendants Have the Constitutional Right to Counsel - Powell v. Alabama (1932)Document 9. Supreme Court Confirms Constitutional Protections for Suspects in Capital Crimes - Watts v. Indiana (1949)Document 10. Supreme Court Reverses Death Sentence on Perjury Grounds - Alcorta v. Texas (1957)Document 11. Judge Goldberg Issues Dissent Questioning the Constitutionality of the Death Penalty - Rudolph v. Alabama (1963)Document 12. Supreme Court Reverses Death Sentence on “Knowing Waiver of Rights” Grounds - Boykin v. Alabama (1969)3. The Supreme Court Abolishes—and Subsequently Reinstates—Capital PunishmentDocument 13. Justice Stewart Questions Arbitrary Quality of Death Penalty Sentences - Furman v. Georgia (1972)Document 14. President Nixon Reaffirms Support for the Death Penalty (1973)Document 15. Supreme Court Finds Death Penalty Constitutional Four Years after Furman – Gregg v. Georgia (1976)Document 16. Supreme Court Allows Convicted Murderer to Pursue His Own Death Via Capital Punishment - Gilmore v. Utah (1976)Document 17. Supreme Court Rules Defendant Convicted of Rape Cannot Be Executed - Coker v. Georgia (1977)Document 18. Supreme Court Invalidates Ohio’s Death Penalty Law on “Mitigating Evidence” Grounds - Lockett v. Ohio (1978)Document 19. Supreme Court Strikes Down Death Sentence of 16-Year-Old on Mitigating Evidence Grounds - Eddings v. Oklahoma (1982)Document 20: Supreme Court Sets Standard for Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Claims in Death Penalty Cases - Strickland v. Washington (1984)Document 21. Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentence Despite Improper Prosecutorial Conduct - Darden v. Wainwright (1986)Document 22. Supreme Court Rules the Insane Cannot Be Executed - Ford v. Wainwright (1986)Document 23. Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentence Despite Evidence of Racial Discrimination in Capital Punishment Sentencing - McCleskey v. Kemp (1987)Document 24. One Death Row Inmate Can’t Appeal on Behalf of Another Death Row Inmate, Supreme Court Finds - Whitmore v. Arkansas (1990)4. Victims’ Rights, Moratoriums, and Other IssuesDocument 25. Supreme Court Rules Victim Impact Evidence is Permissible in Sentencing Phase of Death Penalty Case - Payne v. Tennessee (1991)Document 26. Law Professor Testifies in Support of the Death Penalty (1993)Document 27. The Subject of the Death Row Documentary Thin Blue Line Tells His Story to Congress (1993)Document 28. Justice Blackmun Reverses Course, Says Capital Punishment is Unconstitutional - Callins v. Collins (1994)Document 29. American Bar Association Calls for a Moratorium on Death Penalty (1997)Document 30. Televangelist Pat Robertson Calls for “Justice Tempered with Mercy” (2000)Document 31. President Clinton Issues a Stay of Execution, Citing Racial Disparities in Capital Punishment Cases (2000)Document 32. Legal Expert Tells Congress the Federal Death Penalty System is Discriminatory (2001)5. The Capital Punishment Debate Intensifies as Courts Narrow Its ApplicationDocument 33. Supreme Court Rules Intellectually Disabled Defendants Can’t Be Executed - Atkins v. Virginia (2002)Document 34. Attorney Barry Scheck Calls for more DNA Testing in Death Penalty Cases (2002)Document 35. Illinois Governor Ryan Commutes Sentences of Death Row Inmates to Life in Prison (2003)Document 36. Supreme Court Reverses Death Sentence, Citing Prosecutor’s Racially Discriminatory Use of Jury Strikes - Miller-El v. Dretke (2005)Document 37. Supreme Court Rules Those Who Commit Murder as Juveniles Cannot Be Executed - Roper v. Simmons (2005)Document 38. Opponent of Death Penalty Discusses Cultural Aspects of Capital Punishment (2005)Document 39. Legal Scholar John McAdams Testifies in Support of Capital Punishment (2006)Document 40. Heritage Foundation Analyst Testifies in Support of Death Penalty (2007)Document 41. Activist Bryan Stevenson Shines Light on Legal Representation Issues in Death Penalty Cases (2008)Document 42. Supreme Court Rules Child Rape Not a Capital Offense - Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008)Document 43. Justice John Paul Stevens Says Long Delays in Carrying Out Executions Are Cruel - Thompson v. McNeil (2009)Chapter 6: States Lead the Way in Opposing Capital PunishmentDocument 44. Catholic Theologians Issue Statement Opposing Death Penalty (2011)Document 45. Former Death Row Inmate Testifies Before Congress about His Experiences (2012)Document 46. Governor Inslee Issues Moratorium on Death Penalty in Washington State (2014)Document 47. Supreme Court Orders New Trial for Death Row Inmate Who Received Ineffective Legal Counsel - Hinton v. Alabama (2014)Document 48. Supreme Court Strikes Down Florida Death Penalty Law Permitting Execution of Defendants with Intellectual Disabilities - Hall v. Florida (2014)Document 49. Justice Breyer Questions Constitutionality of Death Penalty in Landmark Dissent - Glossip v. Gross (2015)Document 50. Justice Breyer Criticizes Geographic Disparities and Long Delays in Death Penalty Cases – Jordan v. Mississippi (2018)Document 51. Governor Newsom Issues Executive Order Ending Capital Punishment in California (2019)Document 52. Supreme Court Rejects Missouri Inmate’s Claim that Lethal Injection Violates the Eighth Amendment - Bucklew v. Precythe (2019)Document 53. Innocence Project Policy Director Urges Abolition of the Death Penalty (2021)BibliographyIndex

This nicely curated compilation presents its well-chosen selections in a single, convenient, highly accessible volume and is recommended for collections serving advanced secondary-level students and university undergraduates.