Wikipedia: Capital punishment in the United States

Capital punishment in the United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Executions since 1976, by State
State	Executions since 1976 (as of 13 Feb 2004)[1]	Inmates on Death Row (as of 1 Oct 2003)[1]
Texas	319	451
Virginia	89	27
Oklahoma	70	105
Missouri	61	67
Florida	58	381
Georgia	34	116
North Carolina	31	207
South Carolina	28	74
Alabama	28	194
Louisiana	27	92
Arkansas	26	40
Arizona	22	126
Delaware	13	21
Illinois	12	8
Indiana	11	39
California	10	632
Ohio	10	209
Nevada	9	89
Mississippi	6	69
Utah	6	11
Washington	4	11
Pennsylvania	3	241
U.S. Federal Gov't	3	26
Maryland	3	14
Nebraska	3	7
Kentucky	2	38
Oregon	2	31
Montana	2	5
Tennessee	1	104
Idaho	1	21
Colorado	1	6
New Mexico	1	2
Wyoming	1	1
New Jersey	0	15
Connecticut	0	7
Kansas	0	7
U.S. Military	0	7
New York	0	6
South Dakota	0	4
New Hampshire	0	0
United States total	897	3,504
no current death penalty statute - Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Capital punishment is currently practiced in some states and by the federal government in the United States. Each state using the death penalty has different laws regarding its methods, age limits, and crimes which qualify. Capital punishment is a highly charged issue with many groups and prominent individuals participating in the debate. Arguments for and against it are based on practical, moral and emotional approaches.

Between 1973-2002, 7254 death sentences were issued. These had led to 820 executions, 3557 prisoners on death row - all for murder, 268 who died of natural causes, suicide or murder, 176 whose sentences were commuted by governors or the President, 2403 who were released, retried or resentenced by the courts.[1] There were 65 executions in 2003.

History

The most comprehensive source (the Espy file) lists fewer than 15,000 people executed in United States or its predecessors between 1608 and 1991.[1] China executed more than this number just in the 1990s. 4661 executions occurred in the U.S. in the period 1930-2002 with about 2/3 of the executions occurring in the first twenty years.[1] Additionally the U.S. Army executed 160 soldiers between 1930 and 1967. The last U.S. Navy execution was in 1849.

Capital punishment was suspended in the USA between 1967 and 1976 as a result of several decisions of the United States Supreme Court, including such cases as Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972)*, Roberts v. Louisiana, 428 U.S. 325 (1976), 431 U.S. 633 (1977)* and Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280 (1976)*. In these cases, the court usually found the application of the death penalty to be unconstitutional, usually on the grounds of cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the eighth amendment to the United States Constitution.

In Furman v. Georgia, the United States Supreme Court suggested that it was unconstitutional for a governmental entity to convict a defendant of a crime and sentence the defendant in the same proceeding. In 1976, when states began to bifurcate the trial and sentencing phases of criminal trials the Court upheld the new procedure. Since 1976, 885 people have been executed, mainly by the states. Texas has accounted for over a third of modern executions; the federal government has executed only 3 people in the last 27 years.

Crimes subject to death penalty

Crimes subject to the death penalty vary by jurisdiction. All jurisdictions which use capital punishment have murder as a crime subject to capital punishment although many jurisdiction require additional aggravating factors. Treason is a capital offense in several jurisdictions. Other capital crimes include: Aggravated kidnapping in Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky and South Carolina; train wrecking and perjury which led to someone being executed in California; aircraft hijacking in Georgia and Mississippi; aggravated rape of victim under age 12 in Louisiana; capital sexual battery in Florida; and capital narcotics conspiracy in Florida and New Jersey. Federal death penalty crimes are various degrees and types of murder as well as treason, espionage, large scale drug trafficking, and attempting to kill any officer, juror, or witness in cases involving a Continuing Criminal Enterprise. There are 15 crimes subject to the death penalty under U.S. military law; however, many of them, such as desertion, are only applicable in times of war.

In practice, however, no one has been executed for a crime other than murder or conspiracy to murder since 1964. All death row inmates in 2002 were convicted of murder.

Methods

Various methods have been used in the history of the American colonies and the United States but only 5 methods are currently used. Historically, burning, pressing, gibbeting or hanging in chains, breaking on wheel and bludgeoning were used for a small number of executions while hanging was the most common method. Currently lethal injection is the method used or allowed in 37 of the 38 states which allow the death penalty and by the federal government. Nebraska requires electrocution. Other states also allow electrocution, gas chambers, hanging and the firing squad.

From 1976-2003, 718 of 885 executions have been by lethal injection, 151 by electrocution, 11 by gas chamber, 3 by hanging, and 2 by firing squad.

Age limits

Only seven countries practice the death penalty for juveniles, that is criminals aged under 18 at the time of their crime. Nearly all actual executions for juvenile crime take place in the USA, although, due to the slow process of appeals, no one has been under age 19 at time of execution since at least 1964.[1] [1] The last juvenile execution may have been 17 year old Leonard Shockey executed on April 10, 1959. In the United States and ancestor bodies politic since 1642, an estimated 364 juvenile offenders have been put to death by states and the federal government. Since 1988, the death penalty cannot be applied to criminals under age 16 and higher ages are legislated in many states.

Since 1976, 22 people have been executed for crimes committed as juveniles. These executions occurred in only 7 states. As of 2003, 17 of the 38 states that allow capital punishment and the federal government do not allow it for juveniles. 5 states require the criminal to be at least 17 at the time of the crime. 16 states have the federally required age of 16 as a minimum.

Distribution of sentences

It is noted that the death penalty is sought and applied more often in some jurisdictions, not only between states but within states. A 2004 Cornell University study showed that while 2.5% of murderers convicted nationwide were sentenced to the death penalty, in Nevada 6% were given the death penalty. Texas gave only 2% of murderers the death sentence, less than the national average. Texas however executed 40% of those sentenced which was about 4 times higher than the national average. California had executed only 1% of those sentenced.

Only 1.4% percent of those executed since 1976 have been women.

Critics note that African Americans make up 42% of death row inmates while making up only 12% of the general population. (They have made up 34% of those actually executed since 1976.) Others note that this is lower than the 50% of the total prison population which is African American and that whites are twice as likely as African Americans to receive the death penalty and are executed sooner after sentencing.[1]

Suicide on death row

The suicide rate of death row inmates was found by Lester Tartaro to be 113 per 100,000 for the period 1976-1999. This is about ten times the rate of suicide as in the United States as a whole and about six times the rate of suicide in the general U.S. prison population.

Controversy over use of death penalty

Various groups oppose or support the use of capital punishment. Groups like Amnesty International and the Roman Catholic Church oppose capital punishment on moral grounds while the Innocence Project work to free prisoners including death row inmates based on newly available DNA tests. Other groups such as the Southern Baptists, law enforcement and some victims rights groups. Opinion polls consistently show a majority of the public support the death penalty.

Religious groups are widely split on the issue of capital punishment[1] with in general more conservative groups more likely to support it and more liberal groups likely to oppose it.

Debate over the death penalty centers around three issues: whether it is morally correct to kill, whether the penalty is being applied fairly across racial, social and economic classes and whether the irrevocability of the penalty is justified considering possible new evidence or future revelations of improper conduct by the state. It is also claimed that the the financial costs of a complete death penalty case exceed the total costs of a lifetime of incarceration. Between 1976 and 2003, less than 2 percent of death row prisoners were exonerated while others had their sentences reduced for other reasons. This amounted to 112 prisoners released and prompted the governor of Illinois to commute all death penalties in his state at the time.

List of individuals executed by the United States
Lists of individuals executed in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming.

External links

Death Penalty Information Center

Bibliography

Banner, Stuart (2002). The Death Penalty: An American History. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674007514.

Dow, David R., Dow, Mark (eds.) (2002). Machinery of Death. The Reality of America's Death Penalty Regime. Routledge, New York. ISBN 0415932661 (cloth), ISBN 041593267X (paperback)
(this book provides critical perspectives on the death penalty; it contains a foreword by Christopher Hitchens)