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Lesson Plan
Overview:
Many people feel that the United States' use of the death penalty violates the Constitution's ban on cruel or unusual punishment and requirement of equal treatment of the laws. Students can explore problems in Florida's capital punishment system that lead to innocent people being sentenced to death.
Purpose: This lesson will aid students in being aware of errors that can occur during the death penalty process.
Grade and Class Time: Appropriate for grades 10-12; Estimated time is 3-4 class periods.
Objectives:
Students should be able to:
1. Identify the Eighth Amendment that bans cruel and unusual punishment.
2. Identify errors in a death penalty case.
3. Understand the historical and contemporary context of the death penalty.
4. Provide support for an argument both for and against the death penalty.
5. Evaluate the evidence for and against that the death penalty serves as a deterrent.
Activities:
1. Divide students in to teams of two. Have each team list at least three reasons for and against the death penalty. Create a "master list" of pros and cons on the board, asking each team for one of their reasons. This initial activity will help assess overall student awareness of capital punishment.
2. Lead a discussion on errors in the death penalty system, concentrating on ineffective counsel, prosecutorial misconduct, and inaccurate testimony. Discussion should touch on what these errors are, why they happen, who is most likely to be affected by them, etc.
3. Divide the class in to four groups. Two groups will evaluate court case #3 and two groups will evaluate court case #4. Assign a pro-death penalty stance and an anti-death penalty stance to each case. (It will be interesting and more challenging to students who have a differing opinion than the one assigned). The students should then read through the cases, looking carefully for specific arguing points that support their stance. To help ensure participation, ask the group to assign individuals to specific roles such as "secretary," "group leader," "point #1," "point #2," etc.
4. Conduct a debate with each group stating an argument and then the opposing group having a chance to rebut. The students who are not debating should be observing the debate and taking down notes. After the debate has finished, ask the observing students what the strongest arguments were.
Tying it all together:
After the debates are finished, assign students a 1-2 page reaction paper. Papers should discuss whether their opinions changed, what facts or opinions they were surprised to learn, and what the death penalty means to them.
Materials needed:
1. Write the Eighth Amendment on the board: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
3. Case Study #3 from the Death Penalty Information Center website
4. Case Study #4 from the Death Penalty Information Center website
