During the last three classes of the semester, the final portion of class will be devoted to fifteen-minute oral presentations by the students regarding the subject of their paper and their tentative conclusions or conjectures, followed by questions from the class. This course will examine the key court decisions regarding the death penalty over the past 25 years. It will also examine public policy issues related to death penalty law and the ethical issues facing attorneys handling capital cases. The outline below provides the readings anticipated for the course. Some of these are included in the assigned text, others will be provided as supplementary materials.
Required readings are in bold .
Optional readings are for further study. Jan. 12 I. Historical and Constitutional Framework A. History of the death penalty in the U.S. 1. Gomez v. U.S. District Court, pp.15-17. 4. Harmelin v. Michigan, pp.37-42 2. Each student will read one of the 9 concurring or dissenting opinions and be prepared to advocate for that position in a roundtable discussion 2.