Legislative Hearing Project
Afternoon session: “wider and deeper research”
January 18, 2005

Meet in your LHP groups and prepare a short report that you will give to the entire program. We will hear these reports at all-program sessions on Jan. 18, 21, and 28.

Preparing for your hearing includes meeting two goals: (1) making a strong case for answers to your central question; (2) being able to answer questions from LHP panelists that would test the authority of your testimony.

Your objective today is to outline what an expert would be expected to know about the issue or issues you are raising.

Here are points to include in your outline:

1. What is the central question you intend to raise in your LHP hearing? This should be a question that can be answered “yes” or “no,” and either answer should be one that can be given reasonable support.

• Example: “Should capital punishment be abolished for all crimes?”

2. What data is relevant to the discussion and debates that surround this question?

• Example:

i. How frequently has capital punishment been in recent years, and what are the current trends?

ii. What differences are there between states and in federal jurisdictions?

iii. Who is most likely to receive capital punishment and for what crimes?

iv. What is the rate of overturned convictions for capital offenses?

v. What is the cost of capital punishment in comparison to life imprisonment?

vi. What evidence is there that capital punishment affects the rate of capital offenses?

3. What are the important instances of policy where this question has been answered in the past?

• Example:

i. Capital punishment was declared constitutional in 1976 after having been prohibited for several years.

ii. The following states have prohibited capital punishment, and then reinstated it: …

4. Are there relevant Constitutional issues that pertain to this question?

• Example: Is capital punishment “cruel and unusual punishment,” i.e. in violation of the Eighth Amendment?

5. Are there important historical arguments that surround this question?

• Example: John Locke’s argument in favor of capital punishment in the Second Treatise on Government.

6. What are the relevant issues of morality or values that surround this question?

• Example:

i. Is it ever morally acceptable to kill another human being?

ii. Do the families of victims have rights that are best met by capital punishment?

iii. Does justice ever require revenge?