Capital Punishment - A Historical Perspective

15 Points Per Correct Answer - No time limit  

1. Gary Gilmore, a convicted murderer on Utah's death row, had the distinction of being the first to be executed after the ban on executions was lifted by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1977. At that time, he had the choice from among several execution methods. Which did he choose? Death by hanging Death by firing squad Death by electrocution Death by lethal gas

2. Convicted of complicity in the murder and robbery of Mabel Monahan in Burbank, California, in March 1953, this woman was executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin prison. On her execution date, she was strapped into the gas chamber at 10:00 a.m. - the cyanide pellets ready to drop into the container of sulfuric acid - when the phone rang. The Governor ordered the execution stopped. By 10:25 another phone call from the Governor ordered the execution to proceed. The prison attendants calmed her and got her strapped back into the chamber for her execution, and once again, the Governor halted the execution and she was removed from the chamber. The phone rang again at 11:18, and the execution was on again. She was pronounced dead at 11:42. Barbara Graham Blanche Taylor Moore Karla Faye Tucker Betty Lou Beets

3. Convicted of treason by the courts of Elizabeth I of England, this woman endured two strokes of the executioner's axe. Her head not yet completely severed, a third stroke was necessary to free her head from her shoulders. Mary, Queen of Scots Lady Jane Grey Anne Boleyn Queen Mary I

4. Convicted of murdering a couple with a pickaxe in 1983, Karla Faye Tucker begged this Texas governor for mercy. Instead, this Texas governor mocked her desperate plea in an interview with a reporter from "Talk" magazine by whimpering "Please don't kill me." Gov. Mark White Gov. Ann Richards Gov. George W. Bush Gov. Rick Perry

5. Maximillian Robespierre, the head of the "Committee of Public Safety", which effectively ruled France in the most turbulent years of the French Revolution, was responsible for the Reign of Terror, during which some 17,000 Frenchmen were executed. Proving once again the old adage, "what goes around, comes around," Robespierre became a victim of his own Reign of Terror on July 28, 1794. The method used for his execution was what? Guillotine Shot by his fellow committee members Hanging Drawing and Quartering

6. Contrary to popular belief, the guillotine was not invented by Dr. Guillotin. The good doctor simply proposed the method to standardize French executions. The first evidence of the use of this device dates to 1307 in Ireland, used to execute Murcod Ballagh. The last time it was used in France was in what year? 1977 1812 1939 1794

7. Susan Sarandon turned in an Oscar-winning performance as Sister Helen Prejean as the spiritual advisor to a man on Louisiana's death row. In the end, Sean Penn's character is strapped to the gurney, needles are inserted into his veins, and a cocktail of lethal chemicals pours into his body as his life is drained out. However, in real life, Sister Helen did not see a death by lethal injection. In true death, what execution method was used? Hanging Firing Squad Gas Chamber Electrocution

8. Lethal injection is something of a panacea for death penalty proponents. After all, it's quick, painless and humane! Or is it? When Justin Lee May was executed, Robert Wernsman of "The Huntsville Item" wrote that May "gasped, coughed and reared against his heavy leather restraints, coughing once again before his body froze." Another reporter, Michael Graczyk, stated, "He went into coughing spasms, groaned and gasped, lifted his head from the death chamber gurney and would have arched his back if he had not been belted down." In which state was this execution performed? Florida Arizona California Texas

9. Amnesty International specifies several reasons that capital punishment is inhumane. Which of these reasons is not mentioned by that organization? Executions are more costly than life imprisonment The deterrence argument has no basis Risk of executing an innocent person Abolition of capital punishment does not affect the crime rate

10. In the trial of Socrates, he had been accused of atheism and corruption of the youth of Athens. In his defense, Socrates said that he believed that the reason he was on trial was not for questioning the beliefs of others, rather for exposing their ignorance. At any rate, Socrates drank this poisonous substance. Potassium Cyanide Hemlock Extract of Oleander Arsenic