Supreme Court Cases
Capital Punishment Process
General Facts
Statistics
BONUS
100

In this case, the Supreme Court invalidated all death penalty schemes in the United States (Full case name and year)

Furman v. Georgia (1972)

100

These types of challenges allow you to exclude potential jurors for any reason. 

Peremptory challenges

100

This many states have abolished the death penalty (DO NOT INCLUDE GOVERNOR IMPOSED MORATORIUMS)

23

100

Less than a quarter of all homicide victims are _______ , while nearly half of the victims of executed inmates are ______.


female
100

This man was indicted alongside 16 others for the murder of Catherine Fuller in Washington DC in 1985

Chris Turner

200

After four year, the Supreme Court reestablished death penalty systems in the United States through this case(Full case name and year) 

Gregg v. Georgia (1976)

200

This form of punishment, known by its acronym LWOP, is considered by many as an alternative to the death penalty

Life without the possibility of parole

200

What is the population of the United States to the nearest 100 million

300 million

200

About 70 percent of homicide victims are ______, divided roughly equally between whites and blacks


male

200

This Supreme Court case found that the precedent of Brady v. Maryland does not require that the convictions in the Turner case be overturned because the withheld evidence in question is not material under the standard established in Brady

Turner v. United States

300

This case introduced the idea that the eighth amendment must "draw its meaning from the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society" (Full case name and year)


Trop v. Dulles (1958)

300

This 1996 Act commonly referred to as AEDPA sought to speed up the capital punishment process however its true effects have been mixed at best

The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act


300

Through 2019, this is the number of homicides in the United States as recorded by the FBI, nearest 100 thousand

829,305

300

Female offenders have typically been given the death sentence for the murder of these groups of people. This stands in contrast to males who are almost always convicted for killing strangers, often in conjunction with another felony.



someone well known to them (a spouse, child, or other relatives

300

How many years did Chris Turner spend in Federal prison. 

26

400

This 1987 case hinged on whether Georgia could be shown to have sentenced offenders disproportionately to death based on the combination of the the race of the offender and the victim

McCleskey v. Kemp

400

A unilateral decision taken by the state to forgo or reduce a judicial penalty though it may have been justly imposed


Clemency

400

Through 2021, this is the number of executions that have occurred in the United States, nearest 100

1538

400

"When we combine the race and gender of homicide offenders and victims, we gain a powerful insight into the types of crime that are considered the most egregious: when a black male kills a white female, odds of execution nationally are more than ____ times greater than when a black male kills another black male...When a white person kills a black victim, especially a male victim, odds of execution are vanishingly small" (84-85).


10 times

500

In this 1971 case, the Supreme Court rejected the idea that a full set of mitigating factors could be created. 

McGautha v. California

500

The Appellate Process in capital cases contains these three Appeals/reviews

Direct Appeal, Post-conviction Appeals, and Federal Review 

500

In March 2021, this state abolished the death penalty and is the most recent state to abolish the death penalty 

Virginia 

500

The greatest homicide rates occur in ______ (Richmond, VA to Philadelphia, PA), and up the _____ (From Orleans county, to counties along/near the river in MI and AR, up to St. Louis).


The mid-Atlantic corridor and the Mississippi