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Capital Punishment in the United States: A Forum on Death-Penalty Issues
Brooke Masters, William Schabas, James Liebman, Randolph Stone, Joseph Hoffmann
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| Seminar Introduction |
 | | From left to right: J. Liebman, R. Stone, B. Masters, W. Schabas, J. Hoffmann. |
Is there an argument for a moratorium on death sentences in the United States? Does the American legal system protect against the execution of the innocent? Is capital punishment biased against certain groups? In the years since 1976, when the US Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment, these hotly-debated questions have been at the fore of a national and worldwide debate on the complicated issue of the death penalty. In this lively debate, four leading experts discuss reasons why the US still retains the death penalty at a time when many other countries in the world have abandoned capital punishment. They question whether the errors that arise in the administration of the death penalty in the US are symbolic of systemic disorder and examine why the death penalty is now so much in the public eye. Finally, they consider whether the US is likely to still be executing people in 2015. This seminar introduces many of the main socio-economic, racial and legal issues surrounding the use of capital punishment, and questions whether the death penalty actually protects the interests of American society at large or is biased against the poor and against minorities.
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| Learning Objectives |
- Identify some of the main socio-economic and racial issues that are compounded by the use of death penalty in the United States.
- Explain how DNA technology could impact the administration of the death penalty in the US.
- List some of the reasons why the death penalty has been abolished in the Northeast of the United States.
- Explore some of the ways in which the administration of the death penalty could be reformed.
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| Sessions |
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| Credits |
This panel discussion was held in December 2000.
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| Technical Requirements |
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