Ncjrs the Death Penalty Is Back in Term Paper

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NCJRS

The death penalty is back in the media again. Scott Peterson, convicted of murdering his wife and his nearly full-term unborn child, received the death sentence. This sentence had been recommended by the jury who convicted him. Peterson was immediately moved to San Quentin, where he will await execution. What is remarkable about this is that according to Court TV, there are already over 660 other prisoners on "death row" in California.

Also according to Court TV, Peterson has been diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Recently the Supreme Court rules that those who are mentally retarded and have committed crimes cannot be sentenced to death. The question arises, will they next include mental illness as a reason to block the use of the death penalty? If so, would all mental illnesses be included? Should someone like Scott Peterson be sentenced to life without chance of parole instead of death because he has a personality disorder?

The Capital Punishment Report for 2003 shows that across the country, 3,374 men and women with a sentence of death were in prisons across the country.

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Only 65 prisoners were executed in 2003. Those 65 had been waiting for execution for an average of twelve years. 144 people convicted of crimes were sentenced to death in 2003. Part of the delay is because 37 out of the 38 states that use the death penalty also have laws requiring automatic review.

It would be hard to argue that automatic review is a bad thing, as the media has reported multiple times of prisoners on death row who were released after DNA testing proved that they could not have been the person who committed the crime. However, it is a contributing factor to the large number of inmates on death row….....

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"Ncjrs The Death Penalty Is Back In" (2005, March 18) Retrieved June 4, 2026, from
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"Ncjrs The Death Penalty Is Back In", 18 March 2005, Accessed.4 June. 2026,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/ncjrs-death-penalty-back-63141