To kill or not to kill?

• Position: QUIZ

Choose the best answer for each of the following questions.

1. According to the article, the number of executions per year in the U.S. has -- since 1999.

   a risen sharply

   b declined by more than half

   c surpassed the number of annual executions in China

   d remained roughly the same

2. Discussions of the constitutionality of capital punishment typically center on the -- prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

   a First Amendment's

   b Second Amendment's

   c Fourth Amendment's

   d Eighth Amendment's

3. In the past 12 years, the U.S. Supreme Court has done all of the following EXCEPT

   a rule the death penalty unconstitutional for juvenile offenders.

   b uphold the constitutionality of lethal injections.

   c prohibit the execution of mentally disabled offenders.

   d uphold the the death penalty in cases of armed robbery.

4. In the article, death-penalty opponents argue that the sentence is handed down disproportionately to

   a juveniles.

   b women.

   c the mentally ill.

   d black people.

5. In the 1970s, the Supreme Court put a moratorium on executions in an effort to get states to

   a switch their execution method to the electric chair.

   b free about 450 inmates who were sitting on death row.

   c develop ways to make sure the death penalty was reserved for the most serious offenders.

   d stop using the death penalty in cases of treason.

6. It can be hard for states to get the drugs needed for lethal injections because

   a U.S. law does not permit the interstate sale of the drugs,

   b the drugs are very expensive,

   c European manufacturers won't sell the drugs for use in executions.

   d the drugs are prescribed by the U.S. Surgeon General.

   IN-DEPTH QUESTIONS

7. How does the U.S. compare with other countries in the use of the death penalty, according to the article?

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8. When supporters of...