DPIC's Death Penalty Quiz

Question 1
The correct answer was False Right. Although the costs of incarceration are expensive - $25,000 per year per inmate - that amounts to $750,000 to $1,000,000 depending on whether a person lives 30 or 40 years after his or her sentencing. The death penalty, on the other hand, costs an additional $2 million per execution. (You answered false)

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Question 1
The correct answer was False - No. Although it is certainly cheaper to inject someone with deadly chemicals than to incarcerate them for 30 or 40 years, the best studies on the cost of the death penalty indicate that it costs about $2 million per execution over the costs of a system which imposes life sentences for the same crimes. Moreover, about 70% of the costs occur at trial with only a minority of the costs for the appeal. (You answered true)

'; } if ($_GET['q2'] == 'False') { echo '

Question 2
The correct answer was False - Correct. Through the end of February, 2006, 583 white people have been executed and 344 black people. However, racism in the use of the death penalty is shown when one looks at the race of the victims in the underlying crime that resulted in sending the inmate to death row. You are much more likely to receive the death penalty if the person you murdered was white than if the person you murdered was black. (You answered false)

'; } else { echo '

Question 2
The correct answer was False - No, about 34% of those who have been executed have been black, while 58% have been white. However, blacks constitute only about 12% of the U.S. population, so their execution rate is much higher than the rate of whites being executed. (You answered true)

'; } if ($_GET['q3'] == 'False') { echo '

Question 3
The correct answer was True - No. These facts are True. Another person was executed by firing squad in 1996, also in Utah. Like Gilmore, John Taylor waived his appeal and asked to be shot. (You answered false)

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Question 3
The correct answer was True - Yes. Gilmore refused to appeal his conviction or sentence and was executed only three months after his trial. (You answered true)

'; } if ($_GET['q4'] == 'False') { echo '

Question 4
The correct answer was False - Correct. There have now been over 120 people released from death row after they were exonerated. Thus, for every 8 executions carried out, there has been one person formerly death on row who is now deemed innocent. (You answered false)'; } else { echo '

Question 4
The correct answer was False - Incorrect. There have now been over 120 people released from death row after they were exonerated. In all of these cases, there was a re-trial ending in acquittal, the state dropped all charges after the conviction was thrown out by a higher court, or an absolute pardon was granted on the basis of innocence. (You answered true)

'; } if ($_GET['q5'] == 'False') { echo '

Question 5
The correct answer was True - No. In almost all states, mental illness is no bar to execution. The practice of executing those with mental retardation was banned by the Supreme Court in 2002. (You answered false)

'; } else { echo '

Question 5
The correct answer was True - Yes. While the Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginia that it is unconstitutional to execute the mentally retarded, almost all states allow the execution of those with mental illness. (You answered true)

'; } if ($_GET['q6'] == 'False') { echo '

Question 6
The correct answer was False - The statement is false because no matter what state you commit a crime in you can still receive the federal death penalty, providing you have broken one of the laws to which that federal penalty applies. For example, certain acts of kidnapping in which a death occurs could merit the federal death penalty, regardless of what state the crime occurs in. (You answered false)

'; } else { echo '

Question 6
The correct answer was False - Not quite true. Although there are 12 states that do not have the death penalty under state law, the federal death penalty governs certain crimes in every state. (You answered true)

'; } if ($_GET['q7'] == 'False') { echo '

Question 7
The correct answer was False - Yes. Delaware hanged one man in 1996 and the state of Washington conducted 2 hangings in the 1990s. (You answered false)

'; } else { echo '

Question 7
The correct answer was False - No. There have been three hangings in the U.S. since 1993. (You answered true)

'; } if ($_GET['q8'] == 'False') { echo '

Question 8
The correct answer was True - Incorrect. A national poll of police chiefs in 1995 also found that the majority of police chiefs do not believe that the death penalty is an effective law enforcement tool. (You answered false)

'; } else { echo '

Question 8
The correct answer was True - Right. According to a Peter Hart Research Poll conducted in 1995 of police chiefs around the country, the officers named such measures as reducing drug abuse, a better economy, and controlling guns as more important than the death penalty in reducing violent crime. (You answered true)

'; } if ($_GET['q9'] == 'False') { echo '

Question 9
The correct answer was False - Yes. Velma Barfield was the first woman executed after the reinstatement of the death penalty. She was executed by lethal injection in North Carolina in 1984. Since then, ten additional women have been executed. There are about 50 women on death row awaiting execution. (You answered false)

'; } else { echo '

Question 9
The correct answer was False - No. Velma Barfield was the first woman executed after the reinstatement of the death penalty. She was executed by lethal injection in North Carolina in 1984. Since then, ten additional women have been executed. (You answered true)

'; } if ($_GET['q10'] == 'False') { echo '

Question 10
The correct answer was True - No, the statement is True. The death penalty for juvenile offenders was ended by the Supreme Court in 2005. (You answered false)

'; } else { echo '

Question 10
The correct answer was True - Correct. The Supreme Court found the death penalty for juvenile offenders (those under 18 at the time of the crime) unconstitutional in Roper v. Simmons (2005). (You answered true)

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Question 1:TrueFalse   The death penalty saves taxpayers money because it is cheaper to execute someone than to keep them in prison for the rest of their life.

Question 2:TrueFalse   Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, more black people have been executed than white people.

Question 3:TrueFalse   After the Supreme Court allowed the death penalty to resume in 1976, the first person to be executed was Gary Gilmore in Utah by a firing squad.

Question 4:TrueFalse   Since the death penalty was reinstated in the U.S., very few people have been released from death row because they were innocent.

Question 5:TrueFalse   In most states with the death penalty, you can be executed even if you suffer from mental illness.

Question 6:TrueFalse   There are some states in the U.S. where you cannot receive the death penalty for any crime.

Question 7:TrueFalse   Hanging has not been used as a method of execution in the United States for over 30 years.

Question 8:TrueFalse   When the police chiefs of the U.S. were polled on their views about ways to lower the crime rate, only 1% named the death penalty as their top priority in reducing violent crime.

Question 9:TrueFalse   No woman has been executed in the U.S. for over 25 years.

Question 10:TrueFalse    Those who commit a crime when they are under 18 years of age are ineligible for the death penalty in the U.S.