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Results for “CAPITAL PUNISHMENT”

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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1985

Heckler v. Chaney: judicial and administrative regulation of capital punishment by lethal injection.

Capital punishment by lethal injection, which was expected to be the most safe and effective of available methods, can produce unusually cruel and inhuman death. In Heckler v. Chaney, inmates sentenced to death by lethal injection, as well as members of both the medical and legal communities, challenged the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) refusal to regulate certain drugs used for capital punishment by lethal injection. By declining to review the FDA's nonenforcement decision, the Supreme Court also declined an opportunity to reevaluate its standard for determining cruel and unusual punishment, which upholds any method of execution that is no more unusually cruel than existing methods. This Comment examines the propriety of judicial and administrative regulation of capital punishment by lethal injection.

Capital Punishment↗
PubMed1989

[Danish physicians' attitude to capital punishment. A questionnaire study].

The attitudes of the Danish medical profession to capital punishment and participation in the procedure of capital punishment were illustrated by means of a questionnaire investigation. A total of 1,011 questionnaires were sent to a representative section of Danish doctors. Out of the 591 who replied, 474 considered that capital punishment is not an acceptable form of punishment while 76 considered that capital punishment is acceptable. Twenty doctors were willing to participate actively in executions although medical participation of this type has been condemned both by the Nordic Medical Associations and also by the World Medical Association.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed2001

Physicians' willingness to participate in the process of lethal injection for capital punishment.

BACKGROUND: It has been found that physicians condone colleague involvement in capital punishment. Physicians' own willingness to participate has not been explored. OBJECTIVE: To examine physicians' willingness to be involved in cases of capital punishment. DESIGN: Survey exploring physicians' willingness to participate in 10 aspects of capital punishment by lethal injection, 8 of which are disallowed by the American Medical Association. SETTING: United States. PARTICIPANTS: 1000 randomly selected practicing physicians. MEASUREMENTS: Questions assessing willingness to be involved in and attitudes toward capital punishment. RESULTS: 41% of respondents indicated that they would perform at least one action disallowed by the American Medical Association; 25% would perform five or more disallowed actions. Perceived duty to society (P < 0.001), approval of the death penalty (P < 0.001), and approval of assisted suicide (P = 0.015) correlated with increased willingness to perform disallowed actions. Only 3% of respondents knew of any guidelines on this issue. CONCLUSIONS: Despite medical society policies, many physicians would be willing to be involved in the execution of adults. The medical profession needs to be better informed about the ethical issues involved in physician participation in capital punishment.

American Medical Association↗
PubMed1990

Corporal and capital punishment of juveniles.

There is a previously unobserved connection between corporal punishment of public school children and capital punishment of juveniles. Both are barometers of acceptable levels of violent punishment and their elimination is a hallmark of a maturing and decent society. Within a majority of the eighteen states where school authorities most frequently strike children are housed 25 of the nation's 28 juvenile death row inmates. On average, the homicide rates of these jurisdictions are two and a half times greater than those that have abolished both state-sanctioned corporal and capital punishment or limit death sentences to those age eighteen and older at the time of their crime(s). Most of the eighteen state abolitions of corporal punishment occurred in the 1980's. The US Supreme Court has ruled both corporal and capital punishment of juveniles constitutional. Additional state legislative abolition of both is anticipated in the 1990s.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Physicians' attitudes about involvement in lethal injection for capital punishment.

BACKGROUND: Physicians could play various roles in carrying out capital punishment via lethal injection. Medical societies like the American Medical Association (AMA) and American College of Physicians have established which roles are acceptable and which are disallowed. No one has explored physicians' attitudes toward their potential roles in this process. METHODS: We surveyed physicians about how acceptable it was for physicians to engage in 8 actions disallowed by the AMA and 4 allowed actions involving lethal injection. Questions assessing attitudes toward capital punishment and assisted suicide were included. The impact of attitudinal and demographic variables on the number of disallowed actions deemed acceptable was analyzed via analysis of variance and multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Four hundred eighty-two physicians (51%) returned questionnaires. Eighty percent indicated that at least 1 of the disallowed actions was acceptable, 53% indicated that 5 or more were acceptable, and 34% approved all 8 disallowed actions. The percentage of respondents approving of disallowed actions varied from 43% for injecting lethal drugs to 74% for determining when death occurred. All 4 allowed actions were deemed acceptable by the majority of respondents. Favoring the death penalty (P<.001) and the acceptance of assisted suicide (P<.001) were associated with an increased number of disallowed actions that were deemed acceptable. CONCLUSIONS: Despite medical society policies, the majority of physicians surveyed approved of most disallowed actions involving capital punishment, indicating that they believed it is acceptable in some circumstances for physicians to kill individuals against their wishes. It is possible that the lack of stigmatization by colleagues allows physicians to engage in such practices. Arch Intern Med. 2000;160:2912-2916

Aged↗
PubMed2003

Explaining capital punishment support in an abolitionist country: the case of The Netherlands.

A substantial minority (35%) of the Dutch population is in favor of capital punishment. In this paper, it is argued that in a staunchly abolitionist country such as The Netherlands, the existence and perseverance of such support can be better understood and explained by conceiving of capital punishment support in attitudinal terms as part of a law and order syndrome. Death penalty attitudes are analyzed by means of hierarchic logistic regression analysis. It is shown that support can be modeled quite well, partly in terms of general attitudes to criminal justice, partly in terms of political and sociodemographic parameters. Within the criminal justice attitudes complex, more support is found among those endorsing harsh treatment of offenders, those willing to grant far-reaching powers to justice authorities, those believing that the government is not delivering on the topic of crime fighting, and those who are concerned about the level of crime. Within the political context, more support is enlisted among people who abstain from voting and those who vote at either extreme of the political spectrum as opposed to central parties' supporters. In sociodemographic segments it is the younger and poorly educated who are the strongest supporters of capital punishment. It is suggested that endorsing capital punishment can be better understood as an expressive act, displaying dissatisfaction with judicial and political elites in the country.

Attitude to Death↗
PubMed1993

Capital punishment and professional nursing.

This paper examines the issue of capital punishment and whether a professional nurse has the right to choose to participate in it. Capital punishment is an extremely emotional ethical issue, and there is abundant literature to support both viewpoints. Professional nursing upholds values and special moral obligations, as expressed in its code. The American Nurses Association Code for Nurses guides conduct in carrying out nursing responsibilities consistent with the ethical obligations of the profession.

Capital Punishment↗
PubMed1975

Capital punishment as suicide and as murder.

Capital punishment may actually contribute to the incidence of murder because it can be sought as a result of suicidal motivations, and because it sets a malignant example of the use of killing as a legitimate coping device. Two case studies are offered as illustration.

Adult↗
PubMed2007

Capital punishment views in China and the United States: a preliminary study among college students.

There is a lack of research on attitudes toward capital punishment in China, and there is even less research on cross-national comparisons of capital punishment views. Using data recently collected from college students in the United States and China, this study finds that U.S. and Chinese students have differences in their views on the death penalty and its functions of deterrence, rehabilitation, and incapacitation. This study also reveals that the respondents' perspectives of deterrence, rehabilitation, retribution, and incapacitation all affect their attitudes toward the death penalty in the United States, whereas only the first three views affect attitudes toward capital punishment in China. Furthermore, retribution is the strongest predictor in the United States, whereas deterrence is the strongest predictor in China.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: a basis for jus cogens prohibition of juvenile capital punishment in the United States.

This article supports the position that the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) articulates a prohibition of capital punishment of juveniles that now must be considered a norm of jus cogens. The article provides statistics and trends regarding juveniles who commit capital crimes and describes how the U.S. justice system handles such juveniles, including Eighth Amendment analyses of juvenile executions under the U.S. Constitution. The article also discusses community consensus regarding evolving standards of decency, describes international law on the capital punishment of juveniles, and outlines worldwide trends in juvenile executions. It then defines and describes the concepts of customary international law and jus cogens, applying these concepts to the problem of the execution of juveniles in the United States. The article concludes by suggesting that there is a moral imperative for universal prohibition of juvenile capital punishment and by speculating about the domestic effects of applying such a jus cogens norm in the United States.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

The development of moral judgments concerning capital punishment.

Data from a 20-year longitudinal study of the development of moral judgment in American males indicate that the most mature stages evince moral condemnation of the death penalty. The authors conclude that American moral standards are evolving towards a view of execution as unjust punishment. They contend that a theory of punishment based on the highest stage of moral reasoning is more valid than lower-stage justifications for capital punishment, and that it provides a rational basis for asserting the immorality--and unconstitutionality--of capital punishment, irrespective of uncertainties as to the deterrent efficacy of the death penalty.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Murder and capital punishment: some further evidence.

The literature relating homicide and capital punishment is reviewed briefly. Despite the "presumed conclusiveness" of the evidence against the death penalty, most studies are shown to suffer from a number of theoretical and methodological shortcomings. To provide a more theoretically sound and comprehensive examination of the question, this paper analyzes alternative data for first and second degree murder and homicide in death penalty and abolition states. Results are essentially consistent with those of earlier investigations.

Age Factors↗