Executions since 1976, by State
State	Executions since 1976 (as of November 17, 2004)[1] http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/usexecute.htm	Inmates on Death Row (as of April 1, 2004)[2] http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=9&did=188#state
Texas	336	454
Virginia	94	23
Oklahoma	75	102
Missouri	61	58
Florida	59	381
Georgia	36	114
North Carolina	34	203
South Carolina	32	75
Alabama	30	197
Louisiana	27	92
Arkansas	26	39
Arizona	22	130
Ohio	15	210
Delaware	13	19
Illinois	12	10
Indiana	11	39
Nevada	11	87
California	10	635
Mississippi	6	70
Utah	6	10
Maryland	4	11
Washington	4	11
Pennsylvania	3	235
U.S. Federal Gov't.	3	31
Nebraska	3	7
Kentucky	2	36
Oregon	2	31
Montana	2	4
Tennessee	1	104
Idaho	1	20
Colorado	1	3
New Mexico	1	2
Wyoming	1	2
New Jersey	0	16
Connecticut	0	8
Kansas	0	7
U.S. Military	0	7
New York	0	4
South Dakota	0	4
New Hampshire	0	0
United States total	944	3,487
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 most states and by the federal government in the United States. Thirty-eight of the fifty states allow the death penalty but each state using it 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 grounds.

Between 1973 and 2002, 7254 death sentences were issued. These had led to 820 executions, 3557 prisoners on death row—all for murder, 268 who died while incarcerated of natural causes, suicide or murder, 176 whose sentences were commuted by governors or state pardon boards, 2403 who were released, retried or resentenced by the courts.[3] http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cp02.pdf There were 59 executions in 2004.

Most notably, 67% of capital convictions are eventually overturned, mainly on procedural grounds although some were exonerated.[4] http://www2.law.columbia.edu/instructionalservices/liebman/index.html [5] http://www.justicedenied.org/landmarkstudy.htm . Seven percent of those whose sentences were overturned between 1973 and 1995 have been found innocent. Ten percent were retried and resentenced to death.[6] http://www.justicedenied.org/landmarkstudy.htm

Contents

1 History 2 Crimes subject to death penalty 3 Methods 4 Ages of condemned prisoners 5 Distribution of sentences 6 Suicide on death row 7 Controversy over use of death penalty 8 Related articles 9 External links 10 Bibliography

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.[7] http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution.htm 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.[8] http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cp.htm Additionally the U.S. Army executed 160 soldiers between 1930 and 1961. 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, primarily the case of Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972)*. In this case, the court found the application of the death penalty to be unconstitutional, on the grounds of cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the eighth amendment to the United States Constitution.

In Furman, the United States Supreme Court found Georgia's "unitary trial" procedure, in which the jury was asked to return a verdict of guilt or innocence and, simultaneously, determine whether the defendant would be punished by death or life imprisonment - a concept further clarified in the Woodson v. North Carolina , 428 U.S. 280 (1976)* and Roberts v. Louisiana , 428 U.S. 325 (1976), 431 U.S. 633 (1977)*, which explicity forbade any state from punishing a specific form of murder (such as that of a police officer) with a mandatory death penalty. The 1977 Coker v. Georgia ruling barred the death penalty for rape of a 16 year old married female, and, by implication, for any offense other than murder.

In 1976, contemporaneously with Woodson and Roberts, the Court decided Gregg v. Georgia, and upheld a procedure in which the trial of capital crimes was bifurcated into guilt-innocence and sentencing phases. Since 1976, 885 people have been executed, mainly by the states. Texas has accounted for over a third of modern executions (319 as of February 2004); 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 which is subject to the death penalty, although many jurisdiction require additional aggravating circumstances. 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 leads 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 five 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.

During 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.

Regardless of the method, an hour or two before the execution the condemned person has a last meal and religious services.

Ages of condemned prisoners

Only seven countries in the world practice the death penalty for juveniles—criminals aged under 18 at the time of their crime. These are Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the United States.

Since 1642 (in the 13 colonies, the United States under the Articles of Confederation, and the current United States) an estimated 364 juvenile offenders have been put to death by states and the federal government. Twenty-two of the executions have occurred since 1976 in seven states. Due to the slow process of appeals, it is highly unusual for a condemned person to be under 18 at the time of execution. The last execution of a juvenile may have been Leonard Shockey, executed on April 10, 1959 at the age of 17. No one has been under age 19 at time of execution since at least 1964. [9] http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution.htm , [10] http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=27&did=206 .

Of the 38 U.S. states that allow capital punishment

• 19 states and the federal government set an age limit of 18
• Five states set an age limit of 17; and
• 14 states set an age limit of 16.

Sixteen was held to be the minimum permissible age in the 1988 Supreme Court of the United States decison of Thompson v. Oklahoma. The Supreme Court is currently (during the 2004-2005 term) reconsidering the constitutionality of execution of juvenile offenders.

Distribution of sentences

Within the context of the overall murder rate, the death penalty cannot be said to be widely or routinely used in the U.S.; on average (in recent years) one execution for about every 700 murders committed or 1 execution for about every 325 murder convictions.

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.) [11] http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engamr510462003 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. [12] http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/racism.htm

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 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 works 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 support capital punishment. Death penalty supporters argue that opinion polls consistently show a majority of the public support the death penalty; opponents of the death penalty argue that the poll results depend on the wording of the question, and that when life imprisonment without parole and making restitution to the victim are offered as an alternative, a majority of the American public oppose the death penalty. (Source: [13] http://www.religioustolerance.org/execute.htm ).

Religious groups are widely split on the issue of capital punishment, [14] http://www.religioustolerance.org/execut7.htm generally with more conservative groups more likely to support it and more liberal groups more likely to oppose it.

Debate over the death penalty centers around four issues: whether it is morally correct to kill, whether the death penalty serves as a deterrent, 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 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.

"Since the death penalty was reinstated in Illinois in 1977, 12 men have been executed. During that same period, 13 innocent men were freed from death row." (52%) [15] http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/tows_2000/tows_past_20000928_e.jhtml This prompted the governor of Illinois to commute all death penalties in his state at the time.

Related articles

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

External links

• Death Penalty Information Center http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=245#ok
• The Innocence Project http://theinnocenceproject.org/
• Truth In Justice http://www.truthinjustice.org/
• Attrition of capital cases http://www2.law.columbia.edu/instructionalservices/liebman/liebman/Liebman%20Stu
  dy/docs/2/attrition.html
• Last Meals on Death Row http://www.deadmaneating.com/dmearch.html
• Amnesty International USA campaign to abolish the death penalty http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/index.do
• Human Writes http://www.humanwrites.org/

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)