nprice18ahsgov-blog

[nprice18ahsgov-blog]

Blog Post Infographic

                                                Works Cited

“Death Penalty Pros and Cons: Should It Be Abolished?” Netivist.org, netivist.org/debate/death-penalty-pros-and-cons.

Greengarageblogadmin. “List of 10 Biggest Death Penalty Pros and Cons.” Green Garage, 22 July 2015, greengarageblog.org/list-of-10-biggest-death-penalty-pros-and-cons.

Muhlhausen, David B. “Capital Punishment Works: It Deters Crime.” The Daily Signal, The Daily Signal, 3 Oct. 2014, www.dailysignal.com/2014/10/04/capital-punishment-works-it-deters-crime/.

“Race of Death Row Inmates Executed Since 1976.” Battle Scars: Military Veterans and the Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center, 1 July 2017,

deathpenaltyinfo.org/race-death-row-inmates-executed-1976.

Rubin, Paul H. “Does the Death Penalty Deter Crime? - Death Penalty - ProCon.org.” Should the Death Penalty Be Allowed?, deathpenalty.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000983.

Statista. “Number of Executions in the United States 2014-2018 | Statistic.” Statista, www.statista.com/statistics/271100/number-of-executions-in-the-us/.

[nprice18ahsgov-blog]

Civic Action Assessment of Issue

I think my role in society is fairly simple while also meeting the needs of the community. To better the community I follow the laws like everybody else, I try to smile at unfamiliar faces and treat everyone with respect.

I learned it is very important to stay informed when it comes to political issues. If you are uninformed, your power to help change this country disappears as you are not capable of making informed voting decisions.

Personally, I do not feel obligated to help solve the problems that my civic action has brought up. To start, the death penalty does not raise many problems as it is because it is fairly straight forward and people’s stances on this issue are pretty clear cut.

I have not done anything to do with the death penalty or capital punishment this semester but something I can do later in my life is be a good juror if I am ever selected to be one for a case, especially if the possible punishment is the death penalty.

[nprice18ahsgov-blog]

Economic Assessment of Issue

Individuals are affected the most when it comes to the Death Penalty. In a case where the criminal is sentenced to death, it is usually because that individual was the cause of one or more deaths. For both parties, the criminal’s family as well as the families of the victims, each individual is faced with the death of a relative or close friend.

There is no real resolution, it just comes down to whether or not you think the death penalty is a constitutional punishment, and I for one do.

Some goods and services that are required for the death penalty is providing food, water, clothing and facilities to hold the inmates.  

There are no factors of production that influence the death penalty, it is solely on whether the people think it is constitutional or not.

There are economic incentives to abolish the death penalty as there would no longer be inmates on death row and facilities to pay for.

If the death penalty is abolished then less taxpayer money goes to maintaining death row inmates and their facilities. The second is if the death penalty is abolished, it would cost more money to keep 

In my opinion I think it is worth the cost to fund death row facilities and inmates in order to preserve the death penalty. I think it is a constitutional punishment and is deserved for the most violent criminals.

With the death penalty, there are tons of costs to keep the inmates on the death row as well as the cost of all the court trials, if multiple. No individual or business profits from this issue.

There are many individuals who would benefit from the abolishment of the death penalty in California. Much of the public’s tax money that goes to the California government is used to maintain facilities for death row inmates. If the death penalty were to be eliminated in California, less of the people’s money would go to these facilities and the rest would go to the prisons.

My issue, being the death penalty, is not a result from an externality as it falls under capital punishment.

The issue can either be removed all together with abolishment or it can depend on government subsidies and how much money is allocated to capital punishment.

This graph shows the average cost of the death penalty from the 1980′s to the 2000′s.  This was a study done by Lewis and Clark Law School and Seattle University. This graph shows how much it costed to maintain inmates on death row and sentenced to death. The audience is anyone studying the costs of the death penalty and analyzing this data. There is no bias in this graph as it is solely an informational graph produced by a study at a University.

[nprice18ahsgov-blog]

Getting Started

SACAPS—This blog gives an in depth history of the death penalty? The authors of this blog are not named? The context of this blog consists of a detailed history of the death penalty and important figures dating back to the 16th century. The intended audience of this blog is any high school student or older interested in learning about the entire history of the death penalty. There is no intended bias in this blog as it is mainly an informational one, only providing certain facts and dates. The significance of this blog is that it provides the earliest history of the death penalty and how it has morphed into what it is today. I do not have a certain stance on this blog but it helped me get a better understanding of the origin of the death penalty.

Death Penalty New - This specific twitter account is against capital punishment and provides news about the death penalty worldwide.

DeathPenaltyWorldW - This account is owned by Cornell University’s Center of the Death Penalty Worldwide. They focus on research, advocacy and training focused on capital punishment, international law and human rights.

NLUD Death Penalty - This account is ran by the Centre on the Death Penalty at National Law University, Delhi. I chose this specific account because I wanted a perspective from a source outside the U.S.

Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty - MADP is a Missouri nonprofit organization working to fight the death penalty. I chose this account because it is the one that was very against the death penalty and I wanted to learn about their possible solutions.

End Death Penalty - This account is the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and is an alliance of more than 130 NGO’s, bar associations, local authorities and unions aiming at universal abolition.

[nprice18ahsgov-blog]

Legislative Action

Congressman Desaulnier voted no on legislation that authorizes the death penalty in the case of murder or attempted murder or any first responder.

In 2014, Senator Harris chose to appeal a federal district court ruling that found the death penalty in California unconstitutional.

Senator Feinstein voted no on legislation in California that would replace the death penalty with life imprisonment.

I did not find any bills that were specifically about the death penalty but I found some that have to do with over sentencing and prison reforms.

S.1917

This bill focuses law enforcement efforts on the worst criminals. The goal is to focus on the violent criminals with a history in criminal drug activity.

It will brings a more strategic approach to drug sentencing that focuses law enforcement resources on the violent career criminals and drug kingpins.

I would vote yes on this bill as it promotes fairness in sentencing, especially for lower-level, nonviolent offenders

This Bill originated in the senate.  The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. The bill was recently reintroduced on October 4, 2017.

I am satisfied with the current legislation concerning the death penalty in both by state and country. I believe it is constitutional and should be in place for the most violent criminals and that is where our current legislation stands.

This article was published this year and is about the current state of the death penalty in America. The article talks about the possible outcomes and legislation regarding the death penalty with Trump in charge.

The author is Maurice Chammah.

This article was published in January 2018, shortly after Trump surprised the nation with his victory in the presidential election. This article describes possible legislation that may come from Trump and his advisors.

The intended audience is anyone interested in the death penalty and what Trump’s presidency could do to it.

The author begins the article by quoting Trump in a way that seems like intolerant, but as the article continues I found that the author sided with many of Trump’s views and, in some cases, promoted them.

The significance of this article is to inform the public on some of Trump’s possible paths he could take when looking at the death penalty. 

This article is more of an informative piece so I do not necessarily agree or disagree with it but I did find this article to go on tangents, which took away from the information and made it confusing at times.

[nprice18ahsgov-blog]

State Action

1a)

The Honorable Catharine Baker,

The issue I am concerned about is the death penalty.  I am concerned about this issue because I have read about cases where people have been wrongfully convicted and on death row for years before released. I am currently a senior at Acalanes High School and I am researching this issue for my senior Government class.  Please clarify your stance on this issue.  Thank you so much for your time.

Sincerely,

Nick Price

1151 Glen Road Lafayette, CA

[email protected]

1b)

The Honorable Steve Glazer,

The issue I am concerned about is the death penalty.  I am concerned about this issue because I have read about cases where people have been wrongfully convicted and on death row for years before released. I am currently a senior at Acalanes High School and I am researching this issue for my senior Government class.  Please clarify your stance on this issue.  Thank you so much for your time.

Sincerely,

Nick Price

1151 Glen Road Lafayette, CA

[email protected]

2) 

Assembly Bill

November 8, 2016

On August 24, 2017 the bill was challenged before the California Supreme Court and they upheld the initiative as constitutional

I definitely support this bill because it keeps the death penalty in place while also requiring the amount of time that legal challenges to death sentences take to a maximum of five years.

[nprice18ahsgov-blog]

Executive Action Assessment of the Death Penalty

1. Donald Trump is a strong advocate for capital punishment, including many tweets directly promoting the death penalty. President Trump has called for the death penalty more than a dozen times in the last five years. Capital punishment is legal in 31 states and the federal government and President Trump wants to use capital punishment against some of America’s most high profile criminals.

2. I agree with his position on capital punishment and on the death penalty. However I think President Trump views these cases more harshly than I do. I have a little more sympathy but I still agree.

3. The Executive Cabinet that manages capital punishment in the the U.S Department of Justice and is headed by the U.S Attorney General, Jeff Sessions.

4. Mission Statement: “To enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.” This does relate to my issue because it talks about protecting the rights of the citizens and also enforcing the law.

5. The DOJ Program Plan helps to “Administering justice for and strengthening services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking” and “implementing state of the art strategies for crime fighting, control, and prevention by law enforcement officers in states, cities, and neighborhoods.”

6. I think President Donald Trump is hesitant when it comes to funding the United States Department of Justice because he is currently under investigation by the Department. I agree with Donald Trump on several cases where he was in favor for the death penalty. If President Trump were to decrease funding to the Department of Justice, many cases would be poorly judged as well as little money to manage inmates on death row.

[nprice18ahsgov-blog]

Constitutional Issue

1. Roper v. Simmons

2. Decided the constitutionality to impose capital punishment on minors

3. 17 year old was found guilty for murder and was given the death penalty

4. Whether or not it was right to sentence a legal minor to the death penalty

5. Unconstitutional to impose capital punishment on a legal minor

6. Found it was unconstitutional to impose the death penalty on adults for crimes committed while they were legal minors

7. Landmark decision in which it is unconstitutional to impose capital punishment on crimes committed under the age of 18

8. I agree with this decision because the idea of a minor getting sentenced to death is crazy to me.

This article is about the constitutionality of the death penalty and whether or not it contradicts the eighth amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. This article was published by the New York Times by their editorial board. The context of the article is how a 69 year old man’s execution date keeps moving further and further into the future. The article argues too many people are being sentenced to death and that if the supreme court were to ever take a case that they should ban the death penalty once and for all.