Death Penalty Law, Theory and Practice

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• the historical, ethical, sociological and political debates surround the death penalty in the USA.
• substantive constitutional and case law provisions relating to the operation of the death penalty in the United States.
• the global position of the death penalty, including within abolitionist and retentionist states.

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• produce practice-quality casework.
• identify facts which are relevant to defence strategy in US death penalty litigation, building on your knowledge of substantive legal claims.
• demonstrate working knowledge of the Mitigation Phase of death penalty litigation in the US.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• conduct research into contemporary death penalty debates.
• interrogate evidence relating to the effectiveness of the death penalty as a deterrent.
• synthesise evidence and debates on the death penalty to form your own, independent opinion on the use of the death penalty.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• reflect on practice and progress.
• work effectively as a part of a team.
• think critically, develop coherent arguments orally and/or in writing, communicate your ideas to a group of peers and defend your position under challenge.

Indicative topics covered on the module will include:

• Global position of the death penalty;
• Empirical evidence about the effectiveness of the death penalty as a deterrent;
• Theoretical positions on the death penalty;
• Moral debates on the death penalty;
• The legal operation of the death penalty within the specific jurisdiction of the United States;
• The history of the death penalty in the United States, including its political, racial, economic and sociological context; and
• Clinical legal education via participating in death penalty casework (when available).

The module is taught via team teaching by both module leads. Students will engage in interactive seminars which will provide space for in-depth exploration of complex legal topics.

The formative assignment involves students conducting death penalty casework. This is clinical legal education and experiential learning under supervision. Students will then build on the feedback from this to ultimately submit casework which contributes for 10% of their final summative grade. (This will be simulated if it so happens that no active case is available.)

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.