Capital punishment: by the numbers.As discussed in "The Death Penalty Debate," Americans are deeply divided over the issue of capital. punishment. Thirty-eight states and the federal government currently have the death penalty. But some states where it is legal (New Jersey and New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , for example) have not carried out any executions since the Supreme Court Lifted its moratorium A suspension of activity or an authorized period of delay or waiting. A moratorium is sometimes agreed upon by the interested parties, or it may be authorized or imposed by operation of law. on capital punishment capital punishment, imposition of a penalty of death by the state. History Capital punishment was widely applied in ancient times; it can be found (c.1750 B.C.) in the Code of Hammurabi. in 1976. As this graph shows, the use of the death penalty in the states that have it varies greatly. It is used most often in the South, where there were 865 executions between 1976 and 2006. The Midwest was a distant second, with 122 executions. The West and Northeast had 66 and 4 execution respectively. This graph shows the number of executions carried out between 1976 and 2006 in the 20 states with the most executions. Use the data in the graph to answer the questions below [GRAPHIC OMITTED] ANALYZE THE GRAPH 1. About how many people did the state of Missouri Missouri, state, United States Missouri (mĭz  r`ē, –ə), one of the midwestern states of the United States. execute in the
years between 1976 and 2006?
(a) 46 (b) 56 (c) 66 (d) 76 2. Which of the 20 states shown on this graph had the second-fewest number of executions? (a) California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). (b) Mississippi Mississippi, state, United States Mississippi (mĭs'əsĭp`ē), one of the Deep South states of the United States. It is bordered by Alabama (E), the Gulf of Mexico (S), Arkansas and Louisiana, with most of the border formed by (c) Indiana Indiana, state, United States Indiana, midwestern state in the N central United States. It is bordered by Lake Michigan and the state of Michigan (N), Ohio (E), Kentucky, across the Ohio R. (S), and Illinois (W). (d) Utah 3. Nevada carried out 12 executions between 1976 and 2006, twice the number in--, the state bordering it to the east, and half that in--, a Midwestern state. 4. In 2005, Texas carried out about 5 percent of the total. number of executions in the state since 1976. How many executions were there in Texas in 2005? (a) 15 (b) 17 (c) 19 (d) 21 5. Two states in the South carried out exactly the same number of executions between 1976 and 2006. These states are Louisiana Louisiana (ləwē'zēăn`ə, l  ē'–), state in the S central United States. It is bounded by Mississippi, with the Mississippi R. and
(a) Alabama (b) Arkansas (c) Georgia (d) Florida 6. The states of -- and -- have carried out the second- and third-highest number of executions, respectively. 7. Discussion Question: What do you think might account for the fact that there have been so many more executions carried out in the South and relatively few executions in the Northeast region of the U.S.? ANSWER KEY 1. [c] 66 2. [b] Mississippi 3. Utah and Ohio 4. [c] 19 5. [b] Arkansas 6. Virginia & Oklahoma 7. Answers will vary. |
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