Capital Punishment: Historical, Comparative and Theoretical Perspectives (LAW-702-001)
Thurschwell
Meets: 11:00 AM - 12:50 PM (M) - Room 526
Enrolled: 12 / Limit: 20
Notices
There are no notices at this time.
Description
In this seminar, we will study both the current United States constitutional regulation of the death penalty and some historical, comparative and theoretical approaches for evaluating the United States's law. The first section of the course -- which should take up the initial 4-5 classes -- will be an intensive introduction to the development of the United States Supreme Court's case law in this area since 1972, when the Court struck down all then-existing capital statutes as unconstitutional, and subsequent allowance of some types of capital punishment schemes beginning in 1976. In the second section of the course, each class will examine the administration (or abolition) of capital punishment in a different historical period and/or nation in order to put the United States's current approach into perspective. Finally, in the third section, we will read some jurisprudential materials that offer different ways of understanding and evaluating this history (or histories). The first section of the seminar will be taught in a traditional classroom style, with presentations by the professor combined with class discussion of the material. In the second and third sections, one or two students (depending on enrollment) will prepare and then present the materials after consultation with the professor. The grade for the class will be based on the students' in-class preparation and presentations, class participation generally, and take-home final exam.
Textbooks and Other Materials
The textbook information on this page was provided by the instructor. Students should use this information when considering purchases from the AU Campus Store or other vendors. Students may check to determine if books are currently available for purchase online.
The only textbook is a course supplement that should now be available from the copy center in Room 465.
First Class Readings
For the first class, please read the Boulanger& Sarat excerpt (in the course supplement), take a look at the statistics (no need to study them -- just notice the trends and big picture), and give McGautha a read-through. McGautha is no longer good law (or to be more accurate, it's been superseded by Furman v. Georgia and the other cases we'll be reading in the initial classes), but it provides a good background to these cases because it introduces most of the themes and problems that arise when one begins thinking about how to legalize and regulate the killing of human beings by the state.