Anatomy of an execution: after a few last words, 1,750 volts puts to death a father who shot his four children.

• Author: Barry, Dan
• Position: NATIONAL - Daryl Holton

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CRITICAL THINKING

In 1972 [Furman v. Georgia}, the Supreme Court effectively overturned most states' death penalty laws, saying their application was "arbitrary and capricious." The death penalty returned in 1976 after states rewrote their laws to conform with new rules.

Ask students to take sides in one aspect of the capital punishment debate: Whether or not it serves as a deterrent to murder and other capital crimes.

Discuss the following: In 2006, Texas, which has executed the most prisoners of any state [see graphic on p. 16], had a murder rate slightly higher than the national average. Maine, which does not have the death penalty, had a murder rate four percentage points Lower than the average.

WRITING PROMPT

Have students write five-paragraph essays in which they argue for or against the use of capital punishment. They can also explain whether or not they think life without parole is a more appropriate punishment for the most violent criminals.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Why do you think most countries have ended capital punishment?

What is your position on the pro-death penalty rationale of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth"?

Where do you think most families of murder victims would stand on the question of the death penalty?

FAST FACT

The American Medical Association [AMA] has advised its members not to participate in executions. [A doctor is present to officially certify death]

The window blinds to the execution chamber are raised shortly after 1 in the morning, and the condemned man is revealed.

Daryl Holton is 45, but he looks almost like a young child buckled into a car seat, with his closed eyes and freshly shaved head, and the way the black restraints of the electric chair crisscross at his torso.

Holton is moments from dying.

The cause of death will be cardiac arrest--his heart will stop beating. Every step toward that end will follow Tennessee's written procedures, which strive to lend a kind of clinical dignity to the electrocution of a human being.

'HOMICIDE TIMES FOUR'

Ten years ago, Holton shot his four young children in his uncle's auto-repair garage, two at a time, through the heart. He used their very innocence to kill them, telling them not to peek, Daddy has a surprise. After he was done he turned himself in, saying he wanted to report a "homicide times four."

In seeking the execution of this Army veteran, who is now blinking in the cold, bright room, the state argued that Holton committed...