The Death Penalty

Catalog description

The death penalty is the ultimate punishment in the criminal justice systems in the world. The United Sates is one of the few democratic nations that still uses this punishment. The death penalty is also one of the most central and debated topics for candidates in high-profile political elections. In this course, students are introduced with the complexity and implications of this punishment to better understand the American exceptionalism regarding criminal sanctions in comparison to the rest of the world; the focus is on the development of the death penalty in the modern-era United States. Surrounding the death penalty debate, issues such as deterrence, retribution, incapacitation, cost, innocence, and constitutionality are critically examined using key Supreme Court cases and important scholarly readings. In addition, six foreign countries are discussed to offer a comparative view in the procedural and substantive domains of the death penalty.