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'{{for|Capital Punishment by the federal government|Capital punishment by the United States federal government}} {{short description|Legal penalty in the United States}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2020}} [[File:Death penalty in the United States.svg|thumb|250px|A map displaying the legal status of the death penalty in the United States by jurisdiction. The death penalty is used throughout the United States for certain federal crimes. {{legend|#FF0000|Jurisdictions with a valid death penalty statute}} {{legend|#008080|Jurisdictions without the death penalty}}]] [[File:Death penalty in the United States with hiatuses.svg|thumb|250px|{{legend|#4daf4a|Capital punishment repealed or struck down as unconstitutional}}{{legend|#377eb8|Capital punishment in statute, but executions formally suspended}}{{legend|#ffff33|Capital punishment in statute, but no recent executions}} {{legend|#984ea3|Capital punishment in statute, other unique circumstances apply}}{{legend|#e41a1c|Executions recently carried out}}]] [[Capital punishment]] is a legal penalty in the [[United States]], currently used by 28 states, American Samoa, the federal government, and the military.<ref>{{cite news |title= States and capital punishment|publisher= National Conference of State Legislatures|url= http://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/death-penalty.aspx|accessdate=June 23, 2017}}</ref> Its existence can be traced to the beginning of the American colonies. Along with Japan, Taiwan and Singapore, the United States is one of four advanced democracies, and only developed [[Western nation]] that applies the death penalty regularly.<ref name="Bienen2010">{{cite book|author=Leigh B. Bienen|title=Murder and Its Consequences: Essays on Capital Punishment in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vmpEQUhpNXUC&pg=PA143|edition=2|date=2010|publisher=Northwestern University Press|isbn=978-0-8101-2697-8|page=143}}</ref><ref name="Reichert2011">{{cite book|author=Elisabeth Reichert|title=Social Work and Human Rights: A Foundation for Policy and Practice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2LylU2Yp6NYC&pg=PA89|year=2011|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-52070-6|page=89}}</ref><ref name="Durrant2013">{{cite book|author=Russil Durrant|title=An Introduction to Criminal Psychology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mIpMUpsoy90C&pg=PA268|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-23434-7|page=268}}</ref><ref name="BryantPeck2009">{{cite book|author1=Clifton D. Bryant|author2=Dennis L. Peck|title=Encyclopedia of Death & Human Experience |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LFOn7rpkVdQC&pg=PA144|year=2009|publisher=Sage Publications|isbn=978-1-4129-5178-4|page=144}}</ref><ref name="Roberson2015">{{cite book|author=Cliff Roberson|title=Constitutional Law and Criminal Justice, Second Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oHu9CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA188|year=2015|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1-4987-2120-2|page=188}}</ref> It is one of [[Capital punishment by country|56 countries worldwide]] applying it, and was the first to develop [[lethal injection]] as a method of execution, which has since been adopted by five other countries.<ref>{{cite web |title= Lethal injection.|url=http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/injection.html|publisher=capitalpunishmentuk.org |quote=China...Guatemala, Philippines, Thailand...Vietnam|accessdate= March 16, 2016}}</ref> The Philippines has since abolished executions, and Guatemala has done so for civil offenses, leaving the United States as one of four countries to still use this method (along with China, Thailand, and Vietnam). In Singapore and Japan, two of the other three advanced democracies that [[Capital punishment in Japan|enforces the death penalty]], the execution method is hanging.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.japansociety.org/page/multimedia/articles/a_secret_theater |title= A secret theater: inside japan’s capital punishment system |last=|first=|date=|website= www.japansociety.org |publisher= Japan Society|page= |accessdate=June 16, 2020}}</ref> In Taiwan, the preferred method has long been by fatal gunshot, though never used, lethal injection was considered by authorities in the past and remains as an option on the books. While lethal injection is now used only in the U.S., it is common worldwide for the condemned to be administered sedatives prior to execution. There were no executions in the United States between 1967 and 1977. In 1972, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] struck down capital punishment statutes in ''[[Furman v. Georgia]]'', reducing all death sentences pending at the time to life imprisonment.<ref name="Latzer">Barry Latzer (2010), ''Death Penalty Cases: Leading U.S. Supreme Court Cases on Capital Punishment'', Elsevier, p.37.</ref> Subsequently, a majority of states passed new death penalty statutes, and the court affirmed the legality of capital punishment in the 1976 case ''[[Gregg v. Georgia]]''. Since then, more than 7,800 defendants have been sentenced to death;<ref name="DPIC-sentencing">{{cite web |title=Death Sentences in the United States From 1977 By State and By Year |url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/death-sentences-united-states-1977-present |publisher=[[Death Penalty Information Center]] |accessdate= April 24, 2017}}</ref> of these, more than 1,500 have been executed.<ref name="Update">{{cite web |title=Execution Statistics Summary – State and Year |url=http://people.smu.edu/rhalperi/summary.html |publisher=people.smu.edu/rhalperi/ |accessdate= January 26, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/20/us/marion-wilson-execution-georgia/index.html|title=Georgia inmate is the 1,500th person executed in the US since the death penalty was reinstated|author=|date=June 21, 2019|website=edition.cnn.com|accessdate=June 21, 2019}}</ref> A total of 170 who were sentenced to death since 1972 were exonerated.<ref name="DPIC-innocence-list">{{cite web |title=Innocence: List of Those Freed From Death Row |url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-list-those-freed-death-row |publisher=[[Death Penalty Information Center]] |accessdate=May 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190513153319/https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-list-those-freed-death-row |archive-date=May 13, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Dwyer-Moss, 760">Dwyer-Moss, Jessica (2013) "Flawed Forensics and the Death Penalty: Junk Science and Potentially Wrongful Executions", Seattle Journal for Social Justice: Vol. 11 : Iss. 2, Article 10. (p.760)</ref> As of December 17, 2019, 2,656 convicts are still on death row.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://files.deathpenaltyinfo.org/reports/year-end/YearEndReport2019.pdf|title=The Death Penalty in 2019: Year End Report|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=[[Death Penalty Information Center]]|page=2|accessdate=January 26, 2020}}</ref><ref>https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/19/us/death-penalty-fast-facts/index.html</ref> The [[United States Department of Justice]] announced its plans to resume executions for federal crimes in 2019. On July 14, 2020, [[Daniel Lewis Lee]] became the first convict executed by the federal government since 2003.<ref name="LewisLeeExecution">{{cite web|url= https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-executes-first-federal-prisoner-daniel-lewis-lee-convicted-of-murder-in-17-years-2262779 |title= US Executes First Federal Prisoner, Convicted Of Murder, In 17 Years |last=|first=|date= |website= www.ndtv.com |publisher= |page= |accessdate=July 14, 2020}}</ref> There are currently 57 other prisoners on federal death row.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/federal-death-penalty/list-of-federal-death-row-prisoners#list |title= List of Federal Death-Row Prisoners |last=|first=|date= |website= deathpenaltyinfo.org |publisher= Death Penalty Information Center|page= |accessdate=June 16, 2020}}</ref> ==History== ===Pre-''Furman'' history=== [[File:Executions in the United States from 1608 (new).png|thumb|right|350px|Executions in the United States from 1608 to 2009]] The first recorded death sentence in the British North American colonies was carried out in 1608 on Captain George Kendall,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/part-i-history-death-penalty |title=Part I: History of the Death Penalty, Death Penalty Information Center |author=Death Penalty Information Center |year=2010 |accessdate=April 12, 2011}}</ref> who was executed by firing squad<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lawenforcementtoday.com/tag/captain-george-kendall/|title=Is there a Death Penalty in America?|author=david waksman|access-date=December 28, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230232544/http://lawenforcementtoday.com/tag/captain-george-kendall/|archive-date=December 30, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> at the [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown colony]] for [[spying]] on behalf of the Spanish government.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.antideathpenalty.org/history.html |title=History of the Death Penalty in America |publisher=Antideathpenalty.org |accessdate=December 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111116172949/http://www.antideathpenalty.org/history.html |archive-date=November 16, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Executions in colonial America were also carried out by [[Hanging in the United States|hanging]]. The [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]] adopted in 1789 included the [[Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Eighth Amendment]] which prohibited [[cruel and unusual punishment]]. The [[Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifth Amendment]] was drafted with language implying a possible use of the death penalty, requiring a grand jury indictment for "capital crime" and a due process of law for deprivation of "life" by the government.<ref name="ReferenceScaliaBaze">{{cite web |title= BAZE v. REES (No. 07-5439) [April 16, 2008] Justice Scalia, with whom Justice Thomas joins, concurring in the judgment |url= https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-5439.ZC2.html|publisher= law.cornell.edu |accessdate= April 7, 2016}}</ref> The [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] adopted in 1868 also requires a due process of law for deprivation of life by any states. The ''Espy file'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=269 |title=Espy file |publisher=Deathpenaltyinfo.org |accessdate=December 1, 2011}}</ref> compiled by [[M. Watt Espy]] and John Ortiz Smykla, lists 15,269 people executed in the United States and its predecessor colonies between 1608 and 1991. From 1930 to 2002, there were 4,661 executions in the U.S., about two-thirds of them in the first 20 years.<ref name="US DoJ">[http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cp.htm Department of Justice] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091211212953/http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cp.htm |date=December 11, 2009 }} of the United States of America</ref> Additionally, the [[United States Army]] executed 135 soldiers between 1916 and 1955 (the most recent).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=180 |title=The U.S. Military Death Penalty |publisher=Deathpenaltyinfo.org |accessdate=December 1, 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080522175848/http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=180 |archivedate=May 22, 2008 }}</ref><ref>[[John A. Bennett]]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=32&did=988 |title=Executions in the Military |publisher=Deathpenaltyinfo.org |accessdate=December 1, 2011}}</ref> ===Early abolition movement=== Three states abolished the death penalty for murder during the 19th century: [[Capital punishment in Michigan|Michigan]] (which has never executed a prisoner since achieving statehood) in 1846, [[Capital punishment in Wisconsin|Wisconsin]] in 1853 and [[Capital punishment in Maine|Maine]] in 1887. [[Capital punishment in Rhode Island|Rhode Island]] is also a state with a long abolitionist background, having repealed the death penalty in 1852, though it was theoretically available for murder committed by a prisoner between 1872 and 1984. Other states which abolished the death penalty for murder before ''[[Gregg v. Georgia]]'' include: [[Minnesota]] in 1911, [[Capital punishment in Vermont|Vermont]] in 1964, [[Iowa]] and [[Capital punishment in West Virginia|West Virginia]] in 1965 and [[North Dakota]] in 1973. [[Hawaii]] abolished the death penalty in 1948 and [[Alaska]] in 1957, both before their statehood. [[Capital punishment in Puerto Rico|Puerto Rico]] repealed it in 1929 and the [[Capital punishment in the District of Columbia|District of Columbia]] in 1981. Arizona and Oregon abolished the death penalty by [[Suffrage|popular vote]] in 1916 and 1964 respectively, but both reinstated it, again by popular vote, some years later; Arizona reinstated the death penalty in 1918 and Oregon in 1978. In Oregon, the measure reinstating the death penalty was overturned by the [[Oregon Supreme Court]] in 1981, but Oregon voters again reinstated the death penalty in 1984.<ref name="Ballotpedia">{{cite web|url=https://ballotpedia.org/Death_penalty_on_the_ballot|title= Death penalty on the ballot |publisher= ballotpedia.org |accessdate=April 6, 2016}}</ref> Puerto Rico and Michigan are the only two U.S. jurisdictions to have explicitly prohibited capital punishment in their constitutions: in 1952 and 1964, respectively. ===Constitutional law developments=== Nevertheless, capital punishment continued to be used by a majority of states and the federal government for various crimes, especially murder and rape, from the creation of the United States up to the beginning of the 1960s. Until then, "save for a few mavericks, no one gave any credence to the possibility of ending the death penalty by judicial interpretation of constitutional law", according to abolitionist [[Hugo Adam Bedau|Hugo Bedau]].<ref>The Courts, the Constitution, and Capital Punishment 118 (1977)</ref> The possibility of challenging the constitutionality of the death penalty became progressively more realistic after the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] decided on ''[[Trop v. Dulles]]'' in 1958. The Supreme Court declared explicitly, for the first time, that the Eighth Amendment's [[Cruel and unusual punishment|cruel and unusual]] clause must draw its meaning from the "evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society", rather than from its original meaning. Also in the 1932 case ''[[Powell v. Alabama]]'', the court made the first step of what would later be called "death is different" jurisprudence, when it held that any indigent defendant was entitled to a court-appointed attorney in capital cases – a right that was only later extended to non-capital defendants in 1963, with ''[[Gideon v. Wainwright]]''. ===Capital punishment suspended (1972)=== {{Further|Furman v. Georgia}}In ''Furman v. Georgia'', the U.S. Supreme Court considered a group of consolidated cases. The lead case involved an individual convicted under Georgia's death penalty statute, which featured a "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. The last pre-''Furman'' execution was that of [[Luis Monge (mass murderer)|Luis Monge]] on June 2, 1967. In a 5–4 decision, the Supreme Court struck down the impositions of the death penalty in each of the consolidated cases as unconstitutional in violation of the [[Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Eighth]] and [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth]] Amendments of the [[United States Constitution]]. The Supreme Court has never ruled the death penalty to be ''per se'' unconstitutional. The five justices in the majority did not produce a common opinion or rationale for their decision, however, and agreed only on a short statement announcing the result. The narrowest opinions, those of [[Byron White]] and [[Potter Stewart]], expressed generalized concerns about the inconsistent application of the death penalty across a variety of cases, but did not exclude the possibility of a constitutional death penalty law. Stewart and [[William O. Douglas]] worried explicitly about [[Race and capital punishment in the United States|racial discrimination in enforcement of the death penalty]]. [[Thurgood Marshall]] and [[William J. Brennan Jr.]] expressed the opinion that the death penalty was proscribed absolutely by the Eighth Amendment as cruel and unusual punishment. The ''Furman'' decision caused all death sentences pending at the time to be reduced to life imprisonment, and was described by scholars as a "legal bombshell".<ref name="Latzer"/> The next day, columnist [[Barry Schweid]] wrote that it was "unlikely" that the death penalty could exist anymore in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pAoQAAAAIBAJ&pg=3786,38609|title=The Free Lance-Star – Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com}}</ref> ===Capital punishment reinstated (1976)=== {{Further|Gregg v. Georgia}} [[File:Panorama of United States Supreme Court Building at Dusk.jpg|thumb|U.S. Supreme Court seat in [[Washington, D.C.]]]] Instead of abandoning capital punishment, 37 states enacted new death penalty statutes that attempted to address the concerns of White and Stewart in ''Furman''. Some states responded by enacting mandatory death penalty statutes which prescribed a sentence of death for anyone convicted of certain forms of murder. White had hinted that such a scheme would meet his constitutional concerns in his ''Furman'' opinion. Other states adopted "bifurcated" trial and sentencing procedures, with various procedural limitations on the jury's ability to pronounce a death sentence designed to limit juror discretion. On July 2, 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court decided ''[[Gregg v. Georgia]]''<ref>''Gregg v. Georgia'', {{ussc|428|153|1976}}</ref> and upheld 7–2 a Georgia procedure in which the trial of capital crimes was bifurcated into guilt-innocence and sentencing phases. At the first proceeding, the jury decides the defendant's guilt; if the defendant is innocent or otherwise not convicted of first-degree murder, the death penalty will not be imposed. At the second hearing, the jury determines whether certain statutory aggravating factors exist, whether any [[mitigating factor]]s exist, and, in many jurisdictions, weigh the aggravating and mitigating factors in assessing the ultimate penalty – either death or life in prison, either with or without parole. The same day, in ''[[Woodson v. North Carolina]]''<ref>''Woodson v. North Carolina'', {{ussc|428|280|1976}}</ref> and ''[[Roberts v. Louisiana]]'',<ref>''Roberts v. Louisiana'', {{ussc|428|325|1976}}, {{ussc|431|633|1977}}</ref> the court struck down 5–4 statutes providing a [[mandatory death penalty|mandatory death sentence]]. Executions resumed on January 17, 1977, when [[Gary Gilmore (criminal)|Gary Gilmore]] went before a [[Execution by firing squad|firing squad]] in [[Utah]]. Although hundreds of individuals were sentenced to death in the United States during the 1970s and early 1980s, only ten people besides Gilmore (who had waived all of his appeal rights) were actually executed prior to 1984. Following the decision, the use of capital punishment in the United States soared.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Steiker|first=Carol S.|last2=Steiker|first2=Jordan M.|date=January 13, 2020|title=The Rise, Fall, and Afterlife of the Death Penalty in the United States|journal=Annual Review of Criminology|language=en|volume=3|issue=1|pages=299–315|doi=10.1146/annurev-criminol-011518-024721|issn=2572-4568|doi-access=free}}</ref> This was in contrast to trends in other parts of advanced industrial democracies where the use of capital punishment declined or was prohibited.<ref name=":2" /> ===Supreme Court narrows capital offenses=== In 1977, the Supreme Court's ''[[Coker v. Georgia]]'' decision barred the death penalty for rape of an adult woman. Previously, the death penalty for rape of an adult had been gradually phased out in the United States, and at the time of the decision, Georgia and the U.S. Federal government were the only two jurisdictions to still retain the death penalty for this offense. In the 1980 case ''[[Godfrey v. Georgia]]'', the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that murder can be punished by death only if it involves a narrow and precise [[aggravating factor]].<ref>{{cite web |title= Godfrey v. Georgia |url= https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/446/420/ |publisher= supreme.justia.com |accessdate=March 24, 2016}}</ref> The [[U.S. Supreme Court]] has placed two major restrictions on the use of the death penalty. First, the case of ''[[Atkins v. Virginia]]'', decided on June 20, 2002,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/00-8452.ZO.html|title=DARYL RENARD ATKINS, PETITIONER v. VIRGINIA|accessdate=August 6, 2006|date=June 20, 2002}}</ref> held that the execution of intellectually disabled inmates is unconstitutional. Second, in 2005, the court's decision in ''[[Roper v. Simmons]]''<ref>''Roper v. Simmons'', {{ussc|543|551|2005}}</ref> struck down executions for offenders [[Capital punishment for juveniles in the United States|under the age of 18 at the time of the crime]]. In the 2008 case ''[[Kennedy v. Louisiana]]'', the court also held 5–4 that the death penalty is unconstitutional when applied to non-homicidal crimes against the person, including [[child rape]]. Only two death row inmates (both in Louisiana) were affected by the decision.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/25/scotus.child.rape/index.html|title=Child rapists can't be executed, Supreme Court rules|first=Bill|last=Mears|publisher=CNN|date=June 25, 2008|accessdate=May 7, 2017}}</ref> Nevertheless, the ruling came less than five months before the [[2008 United States presidential election|2008 presidential election]] and was criticized by both major party candidates [[Barack Obama]] and [[John McCain]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/WireStory?id=5246858&page=1 |title=Obama Disagrees With High Court on Child Rape Case |accessdate=May 7, 2017 |publisher=[[ABC News]] |date=June 25, 2008 |author=Sara Kugler |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090524044856/https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/WireStory?id=5246858&page=1 |archivedate=May 24, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ===Repeal movements and legal challenges=== In 2004, [[New York (state)|New York]] and [[Kansas]] capital sentencing schemes were struck down by their respective states' highest courts. Kansas successfully appealed the Kansas Supreme Court decision to the United States Supreme Court, who reinstated the statute in ''[[Kansas v. Marsh]]'' (2006), holding it did not violate the U.S. Constitution. The decision of the New York Court of Appeals was based on the state constitution, making unavailable any appeal. The [[New York State Assembly|state lower house]] has since blocked all attempts to reinstate the death penalty by adopting a valid sentencing scheme.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47871-2005Apr12.html|title=In N.Y., Lawmakers Vote Not to Reinstate Capital Punishment|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=April 13, 2005|author=Powell, Michael|accessdate=May 14, 2019|quote=NEW YORK, April 12 – New York's death penalty is no more. A legislative committee tossed out a bill Tuesday aimed at reinstating the state's death penalty, which a court had suspended last year. It was an extraordinary bit of drama, not least because a top Democrat who once strongly supported capital punishment led the fight to end it.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514154454/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47871-2005Apr12.html?noredirect=on|archive-date=May 14, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2016, [[Delaware]]'s death penalty statute was also struck down by its state supreme court.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2016/08/02/court-delawares-death-penalty-law-unconstitutional/87963012/|title=Top court: Delaware's death penalty law unconstitutional|date=August 2, 2016|accessdate=May 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701135847/http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2016/08/02/court-delawares-death-penalty-law-unconstitutional/87963012/|archive-date=July 1, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2007, [[New Jersey]] became the first state to repeal the death penalty by legislative vote since ''Gregg v. Georgia'',<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/13/AR2007121301302.html | work=The Washington Post | title=N.J. Approves Abolition of Death Penalty; Corzine to Sign | first=Keith B. | last=Richburg | date=December 14, 2007 | accessdate=May 14, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514154907/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/13/AR2007121301302.html | archive-date=May 14, 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref> followed by [[New Mexico]] in 2009,<ref>{{in lang|en}} Maria Medina, [http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/politics/politics_krqe_santa_fe_governor_ok_with_some_death_sentences_200903192257 « Governor OK with Astorga capital case »]</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iUcLhqwlBEQ6-b-J7rzRd2lSuv3g |title=New Mexico governor bans death penalty |archivedate=April 18, 2010 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100418173921/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iUcLhqwlBEQ6-b-J7rzRd2lSuv3g |date=March 18, 2009 |accessdate=December 23, 2009 |agency=[[Agence France-Presse]] |quote=New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson made his state the 15th in the nation to outlaw capital punishment when he signed a law abolishing the death penalty, his office said. |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Illinois]] in 2011,<ref name="QuinnSignsAbolition"/> [[Connecticut]] in 2012,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/recent-legislation-death-penalty-repeal-passes-second-connecticut-house-awaits-governors-signature |title=RECENT LEGISLATION: Death Penalty Repeal Passes Second Connecticut House, Awaits Governor's Signature &#124; Death Penalty Information Center |publisher=Deathpenaltyinfo.org |date=April 12, 2012 |accessdate=May 14, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514155031/https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/recent-legislation-death-penalty-repeal-passes-second-connecticut-house-awaits-governors-signature |archive-date=May 14, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/04/25/connecticut-governor-signs-bill-to-repeal-death-penalty/|title=Connecticut governor signs bill to repeal death penalty|date=April 25, 2012|publisher=FOX News Network, LLC.|accessdate=May 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514155148/https://www.foxnews.com/politics/connecticut-governor-signs-bill-to-repeal-death-penalty|archive-date=May 14, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Maryland]] in 2013.<ref>{{cite news|title=Md. General Assembly repeals death penalty|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/md-general-assembly-repeals-death-penalty/2013/03/15/c8bee4f0-8d72-11e2-9838-d62f083ba93f_story.html|website=The Washington Post|accessdate=May 14, 2019|first=John|last=Wagner|date=March 16, 2013}}</ref> The repeals were not retroactive, but in New Jersey, Illinois and Maryland, governors commuted all death sentences after enacting the new law.<ref>{{cite web |title= Clemency |url= http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/clemency|publisher= deathpenaltyinfo.org |accessdate= April 6, 2016}}</ref> In Connecticut, the [[Connecticut Supreme Court]] ruled in 2015 that the repeal must be retroactive. New Mexico is the only state with remaining death row inmates and no civilian death penalty statute for capital crimes committed post-repeal. Capital punishment for certain offenses is still possible for National Guard members in [[Title 32 of the United States Code|Title 32]] status under the New Mexico Code of Military Justice (NMSA 20-12), and for capital offenses committed prior to the repeal of New Mexico's death penalty statute.<ref>[https://law.justia.com/codes/new-mexico/2016/chapter-20/article-12/ 2016 New Mexico Statutes Chapter 20 – Military Affairs Article 12 – Code of Military Justice, JUSTIA US Law, Retrieved Mar 15, 2019]</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= Connecticut's highest court overturns its death penalty |url= http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/13/us/connecticut-death-penalty/|publisher= cnn.com/ |accessdate= April 6, 2016}}</ref> [[Nebraska]]'s legislature also passed a repeal in 2015, but a [[referendum]] campaign gathered enough signatures to suspend it. Capital punishment was reinstated by popular vote on November 8, 2016. The same day, [[California]]'s electorate defeated a proposal to repeal the death penalty, and adopted another initiative to speed up its appeal process.<ref>{{cite web |title= Voters in California, Oklahoma, and Nebraska chose to preserve and strengthen the death penalty |url= https://news.vice.com/story/death-penalty-proponents-win-in-california-oklahoma-and-nebraska|publisher= news.vice.com |accessdate= November 9, 2016}}</ref> On October 11, 2018, Washington state became the 20th state to abolish capital punishment when [[Washington Supreme Court|its state Supreme Court]] deemed the death penalty unconstitutional on the grounds of racial bias.<ref>http://www.courts.wa.gov: [http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/880867.pdf PDF]</ref> New Hampshire became the 21st state to abolish capital punishment on May 30, 2019 when [[New Hampshire Senate|its state senate]] overrode [[Chris Sununu|Governor Sununu]]'s veto by a vote of 16–8.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.concordmonitor.com/New-Hampshire-Senate-votes-on-whether-to-repeal-the-death-penalty-for-good-25909263|title=Senate overrides Sununu ending death penalty in New Hampshire|date=May 30, 2019|website=Concord Monitor|access-date=May 30, 2019}}</ref> Colorado became the 22nd state to abolish capital punishment when governor [[Jared Polis]] signed a repeal bill on 23 March 2020 and commuted all existing death sentences in the state to life without parole.<ref>https://coloradosun.com/2020/03/23/colorado-death-penalty-repeal/</ref> Since ''Furman'', 11 states have organized popular votes dealing with the death penalty through the [[Initiatives and referendums in the United States|initiative and referendum process]]. All resulted in a vote for reinstating it, rejecting its abolition, expanding its application field, specifying in the state constitution that it is not unconstitutional, or expediting the appeal process in capital cases.<ref name="Ballotpedia"/> ==== States that have abolished the death penalty ==== A total of 21 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have [[Abolition of capital punishment|abolished]] the death penalty for all crimes. Below is a table of the states and the date that the state abolished the death penalty.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/us/california-death-penalty.html bars<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=001172|title=31 States with the Death Penalty and 21 States with Death Penalty Bans - Death Penalty - ProCon.org|website=deathpenalty.procon.org|access-date=May 2, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2014-02-12/washington-joins-long-list-states-reconsidering-or-abolishing-death-penalty|title=Washington joins long list of states reconsidering or abolishing the death penalty|work=Public Radio International|access-date=May 2, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.freep.com/story/news/2015/05/04/death-penalty/26879705/|title=The day Michigan became 1st state to ban death penalty|work=Detroit Free Press|access-date=May 2, 2018|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/delaware-1|title=Delaware {{!}} Death Penalty Information Center|website=deathpenaltyinfo.org|language=en|access-date=May 2, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://statelaws.findlaw.com/minnesota-law/minnesota-capital-punishment-laws.html|title=Minnesota Capital Punishment Laws – FindLaw|work=Findlaw|access-date=May 2, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/10/11/656570464/washington-state-strikes-down-death-penalty-citing-racial-bias|title=Washington State Strikes Down Death Penalty, Citing Racial Bias|work=NPR.org|access-date=October 11, 2018|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.denverpost.com/2020/03/23/colorado-abolish-death-penalty/|title=Colorado abolishes death penalty; governor commutes sentences of 3 on death row|date=March 23, 2020|website=The Denver Post|language=en-US|access-date=March 24, 2020}}</ref> Michigan became the first English-speaking territory in the world to abolish capital punishment in 1847. Although treason remained a crime punishable by the death penalty in Michigan despite the 1847 abolition, no one was ever executed under that law, and Michigan's 1962 Constitutional Convention codified that the death penalty was fully abolished.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/michigan-0|title=Michigan: General Information|work=Death Penalty Information Center|access-date=January 8, 2019|language=en-US}}</ref> Additionally, Vermont has abolished the death penalty for all crimes except treason.<ref name="Vermont Laws">{{Cite web|url=http://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/13/075/03401|title=Vermont Laws|last=|first=|date=|website=legislature.vermont.gov|language=en|access-date=}}</ref> {| class="wikitable sortable" |+ !State/District/Territory !Year |- |[[Alaska]] |1957 |- |[[Colorado]] |2020 |- |[[Connecticut]] |2012 |- |[[Delaware]] |2016 |- |[[District of Columbia]] |1981 |- |[[Hawaii]] |1957 |- |[[Illinois]] |2011 |- |[[Iowa]] |1965 |- |[[Maine]] |1887 |- |[[Maryland]] |2013 |- |[[Massachusetts]] |1984 |- |[[Michigan]] |1847 |- |[[Minnesota]] |1911 |- |[[New Hampshire]] |2019 |- |[[New Jersey]] |2007 |- |[[New Mexico]] |2009 |- |[[New York (state)|New York]] |2007 |- |[[North Dakota]] |1973 |- |[[Rhode Island]] |1984 |- |[[Puerto Rico]] |1929 |- |[[Washington (state)|Washington]] |2018 |- |[[West Virginia]] |1965 |- |[[Wisconsin]] |1853 |- |} ===Lethal injection era=== [[File:Execution_chamber,_Florida.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The lethal injection room in [[Florida State Prison]].]] From 1976 to {{Date}}, there were 1,524 executions, of which 1,344 were by lethal injection, 163 by electrocution, 11 by gas inhalation, 3 by hanging, and 3 by firing squad.<ref>{{cite web |title= USA Executions 2016 (as of 12/8/16) |url=https://people.smu.edu/rhalperi/exec16.html |publisher= people.smu.edu |accessdate=March 16, 2017}}</ref> The South had the great majority of these executions, with 1,243; there were 189 in the Midwest, 86 in the West, and only 4 in the Northeast. No state in the Northeast has conducted an execution since [[Connecticut]], now abolitionist, in 2005. The state of [[Texas]] alone conducted 569 executions, over 1/3 of the total; the states of Texas, [[Virginia]], and [[Oklahoma]] combined make up over half the total, with 794 executions between them.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/number-executions-state-and-region-1976|title=Number of Executions by State and Region Since 1976 – Death Penalty Information Center|website=deathpenaltyinfo.org}}</ref> 8 executions have been conducted by the federal government. Executions increased in frequency until 1999; 98 prisoners were executed that year. Since 1999, the number of executions has greatly decreased, and the 20 executions in 2016 were the fewest since 1991. There has been a small increase since 2016, with 22 executions in 2019.<ref name="Update"/> The death penalty became an issue during the [[1988 United States presidential election|1988 presidential election]]. It came up in the October 13, 1988, debate between the two presidential nominees [[George H. W. Bush]] and [[Michael Dukakis]], when [[Bernard Shaw (journalist)|Bernard Shaw]], the moderator of the debate, asked Dukakis, "Governor, if Kitty Dukakis [his wife] were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?" Dukakis replied, "No, I don't, and I think you know that I've opposed the death penalty during all of my life. I don't see any evidence that it's a deterrent, and I think there are better and more effective ways to deal with violent crime." Bush was elected, and many, including Dukakis himself, cite the statement as the beginning of the end of his campaign.<ref>{{cite web |title= Obama's non-Dukakis answer |url=http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2008/06/25/4433621-obamas-non-dukakis-answer |publisher= nbcnews.com |accessdate=April 8, 2016}}</ref> In 1996, [[United States Congress|Congress]] passed the [[Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act]] to streamline the appeal process in capital cases. The bill was signed into law by President [[Bill Clinton]], who had endorsed capital punishment during his 1992 presidential campaign. A study found that at least 34 of the 749 executions carried out in the U.S. between 1977 and 2001, or 4.5%, involved "unanticipated problems or delays that caused, at least arguably, unnecessary agony for the prisoner or that reflect gross incompetence of the executioner". The rate of these "botched executions" remained steady over the period.<ref>Borg and Radelet, pp. 144–147</ref> A study published in ''[[The Lancet]]'' in 2005 found that in 43% of cases of lethal injection, the blood level of [[hypnotic]]s in the prisoner was insufficient to ensure unconsciousness.<ref>Van Norman p. 287</ref> Nonetheless, the Supreme Court ruled in 2008 (''[[Baze v. Rees]]''), again in 2015 (''[[Glossip v. Gross]]''), and a third time in 2019 (''[[Bucklew v. Precythe]]''), that lethal injection does not constitute [[cruel and unusual punishment]].<ref>Paternoster, R. (September 18, 2012). Capital Punishment. Oxford Handbooks Online. Retrieved June 15, 2016, from http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195395082.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780195395082-e-24.</ref><ref>https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/17-8151_new_0pm1.pdf</ref> On July 25, 2019, Attorney General [[William Barr]] ordered the resumption of federal executions after a 16-year hiatus, and set five execution dates for December 2019 and January 2020.<ref>{{citation |title=Barr directs federal government to reinstate death penalty, schedule the execution of 5 death row inmates |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/25/politics/justice-department-capital-punishment-barr/index.html|work=CNN|date=July 25, 2019 |accessdate=July 25, 2019|author1=Tammy Kupperman|author2=Ariane de Vogue|author3=Vernocia Stracqualursi}}</ref><ref>https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ag-barr-orders-reinstatement-federal-death-penalty-n1034451</ref><ref>[https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/07/justice-department-bill-barr-orders-revival-federal-executions-lethal-injection.html Federal execution protocol will “closely mirror” controversial state methods<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/25/death-penalty-capital-punishment-us-justice-department-resumes-executions US justice department resumes use of death penalty and schedules five executions | World news | The Guardian<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> After the Supreme Court upheld a stay on these executions,<ref>https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-keeps-federal-executions-hold-n1097521</ref> the stay was lifted in June 2020 and four executions were rescheduled for July and August 2020.<ref name="federal-executions-2020">{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/0238930de18b029e4b31ea1114d4a0d8 |title= AP Exclusive: New dates set to begin federal executions|last=|first=|date=|website= apnews.com |publisher= Associated Press|page= |accessdate=June 16, 2020}}</ref> The federal government executed [[Daniel Lewis Lee]] on July 14, 2020. He became the first convict executed by the federal government since 2003.<ref name="LewisLeeExecution"/> === Women's history and capital punishment === In 1632, 24 years after the first recorded male execution in the colonies, <!-- Baker says her first name was June, but other confirming sources appear absent. -->Jane Champion became the first woman known to have been lawfully executed. She was sentenced to death by hanging after she was convicted of infanticide; around two-thirds of women executed in the 17th and early 18th centuries were convicted of child murder. A married woman, it is not known whether Champion's illicit lover, William Gallopin, also convicted of their child's murder, was also executed, although it appears he was so sentenced.<ref>{{cite book|last=Baker|first=David V.|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QKUHCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA75|title=Women and Capital Punishment in the United States: An Analytical History |location=Jefferson, NC|publisher=McFarland|year=2016|page=75|isbn=9780786499502}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/part-i-history-death-penalty#america|title=Part I: History of the Death Penalty {{!}} Death Penalty Information Center|website=deathpenaltyinfo.org|language=en|access-date=November 8, 2017}}</ref> For the Puritans, infanticide was the worst form of murder.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Ann|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=AGA_FEsKRioC&pg=PA76|title=Women Who Kill|location=New York, NY|publisher=The Feminist Press at the City University of New York|orig-year=1980|year=2009|page=76ff|isbn=9781558616073}} (Originally published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston)</ref> Women accounted for just one fifth of all executions between 1632 and 1759, in the [[colonial United States]]. Women were more likely to be acquitted, and the relatively low number of executions of women may have been impacted by the scarcity of female laborers. Slavery was not yet widespread in the 17th century mainland and planters relied mostly on Irish indentured servants, which is different than the hereditary chattel slavery experience of Africans. To maintain subsistence levels in those days everyone had to do farm work, including women. These needs were met by unmarried Irish women who arrived in the early colonies as indentured servants after they were forced to leave Ireland as a result of rising rents, crop failures and disruption in the linen industry. Many were transported as part of what some call the "white slave trade", and were often poor women, prostitutes, or criminals who were brought to the United States against their will.<ref>{{cite book |last=Baker |first=David V. |title=Women and Capital Punishment in the United States: An Analytical History |date=2016}}</ref> The second half of the 17th century saw the executions of 14 women and 6 men who were accused of witchcraft during the witch hunt hysteria and the Salem Witch Trials. While both men and women were executed, 80% of the accusations were towards women, so the list of executions disproportionately affected men by a margin of 6 (actual) to 4 (expected), i.e. 50% more men were executed than expected from the percentage of accused who were men.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/devilinshapeofwo00karl_0|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/devilinshapeofwo00karl_0/page/274 274]|title=The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England|last=Karlsen|first=Carol F.|date=April 17, 1998|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393347197|language=en}}</ref> Other notable female executions include [[Mary Surratt]], [[Velma Barfield|Margie Velma Barfield]] and [[Wanda Jean Allen]]. Mary Surratt was executed by hanging in 1865 after being convicted of co-conspiring to [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|assassinate Abraham Lincoln]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.surrattmuseum.org/mary-surratt|title=Mary Surratt's Story – Surratt House Museum|website=www.surrattmuseum.org|language=en|access-date=November 8, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171104011659/http://www.surrattmuseum.org/mary-surratt|archive-date=November 4, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> Margie Velma Barfield was convicted of murder and when she was executed by lethal injection in 1984, she became the first woman to be executed since the ban on capital punishment was lifted in 1976.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/barfield029.htm|title=Velma Margie Barfield #29|website=www.clarkprosecutor.org|access-date=November 8, 2017}}</ref> Wanda Jean Allen was convicted of murder in 1989 and had a high-profile execution by lethal injection in January 2001. She was the first black woman to be executed in the US since 1954.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/allen687.htm|title=Wanda Jean Allen #687|website=www.clarkprosecutor.org|access-date=November 8, 2017}}</ref> According to Allen's lawyers, prosecutors capitalized on her low IQ, race and homosexuality in their representations of her as a murderer at trial.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kKcHCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA389&lpg=PA389|title=Women and Capital Punishment in the United States: An Analytical History|last=Baker|first=David V.|date=December 31, 2015|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476622880|language=en}}</ref> === Juvenile capital punishment === In 1642, the first ever juvenile, [[Thomas Granger|Thomas Graunger]], was sentenced to death in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, for [[bestiality]]. Since then, 361 other juveniles have been sentenced to the death penalty. ''Kent v. United States'' (1966), turned the tides for juvenile capital punishment sentencing when it limited the waiver discretion juvenile courts had. Before this case, juvenile courts had the freedom to waiver juvenile cases to criminal courts without a hearing, which did not make the waiving process consistent across states. Thoughts about abolishing the death penalty started happening between 1983 and 1986. In 1987, ''[[Thompson v. Oklahoma]]'', the Supreme Court threw away Thompson's death sentence due to it being cruel and unusual punishment.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Cothern|first=Lynn|date=November 2000|title=Juveniles and the Death Penalty|url=https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/184748.pdf|journal=Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention|volume=|pages=1–16|via=NCJRS}}</ref> It was not until ''[[Roper v. Simmons]]'' that the juvenile death penalty was abolished due to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]] finding that the execution of juveniles is in conflict with the [[Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Eighth Amendment]] and [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]], which deal with cruel and unusual punishment. Prior to abolishing the juvenile death penalty in 2005, any juvenile aged 16 years or older could be sentenced to death in some states, the last of whom was [[Scott Hain]], executed in Oklahoma in 2003 for burning two people to death in a robbery at age 17.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Corrections|last=Maier|first=Shana|publisher=John Wiley and Sons Inc.|year=2017|isbn=|location=|pages=}}</ref> Since 2005, there have been no executions nor discussion of executing juveniles in the United States. ==Capital crimes== ===Aggravated murder=== Aggravating factors for seeking capital punishment of murder vary greatly among death penalty states. California has twenty-two.<ref>{{cite web|title=California Penal Code &sect; 190.2|url=http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=190.2&lawCode=PEN|work=[[California Office of Legislative Counsel]]|accessdate=March 16, 2019}}</ref> Some aggravating circumstances are nearly universal, such as robbery-murder, murder involving [[rape]] of the victim, and murder of an on-duty [[police officer]].<ref name="Aggravating">{{cite web|url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/aggravating-factors-capital-punishment-state|title=AGGRAVATING FACTORS FOR CAPITAL PUNISHMENT BY STATE|accessdate=April 28, 2017}}</ref> Several states have included [[child murder]] to their list of aggravating factors, but the victim's age under which the murder is punishable by death varies. In 2011, Texas raised this age from six to ten.<ref>{{cite web |title= AN ACT relating to the murder of a child as a capital offense. |url=http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/82R/billtext/html/SB00377F.HTM |publisher= legis.state.tx.us |accessdate=March 24, 2016}}</ref> In some states, the high number of aggravating factors has been criticized on account of giving prosecutors too much discretion in choosing cases where they believe capital punishment is warranted. In California especially, an official commission proposed, in 2008, to reduce these factors to five (multiple murders, [[torture murder]], murder of a police officer, murder committed in jail, and murder related to another felony).<ref>{{cite web |title= Official recommendations on the fair administration of the death penalty in california |url= http://www.ccfaj.org/rr-dp-official.html |publisher= ccfaj.org |accessdate= March 24, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160314205412/http://www.ccfaj.org/rr-dp-official.html |archive-date= March 14, 2016 |url-status= dead }}</ref> Columnist [[Charles Lane (journalist)|Charles Lane]] went further, and proposed that murder related to a felony other than rape should no longer be a capital crime when there is only one victim killed.<ref>Charles Lane (2010), ''Stay of Execution: Saving the Death Penalty from Itself'', Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, p.110-111</ref> ==== Aggravating factors in federal court ==== In order for a person to be eligible for a death sentence when convicted of aggravated first-degree murder, the jury or court (when there is not a jury) must determine at least one of sixteen aggravating factors that existed during the crime's commission. The following is a list of the 16 aggravating factors under federal law.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/3592|title=18 U.S. Code § 3592 – Mitigating and aggravating factors to be considered in determining whether a sentence of death is justified|website=LII / Legal Information Institute|language=en|access-date=May 4, 2018}}</ref> # [[Felony murder rule|Murder while committing another felony]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Felony-Murder+Rule|title=Felony-Murder Rule|work=TheFreeDictionary.com|access-date=May 4, 2018}}</ref> # Offender was convicted of a separate felony involving a firearm prior to the aggravated murder. # Being convicted of a separate felony where death or life imprisonment was authorized prior to the aggravated murder. # Being convicted of any separate violent felony prior to the aggravate murder. # The offender put the lives of at least 1 or more other persons in danger of death during the commission of the crime. # Offender committed the crime in an especially cruel, heinous, or depraved manner. # [[Contract killing|Offender committed the crime for financial gain]]. # Offender committed the crime for monetary gain. # The murder was premeditated, involved planning in order to be carried out, or the offender showed early signs of committing the crime, such as keeping a journal of the crime's details<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2004/04/the_depressive_and_the_psychopath.html|title=The Depressive and the Psychopath|last=Cullen|first=Dave|date=April 20, 2004|work=Slate|access-date=May 3, 2018|language=en-US|issn=1091-2339}}</ref> and posting things on the Internet.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/us/nikolas-cruz-florida-shooting.html|title=Nikolas Cruz, Florida Shooting Suspect, Showed 'Every Red Flag'|date=February 15, 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 4, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> # Offender was previously convicted of at least two drug offenses. # The victim would not have been able to defend themselves while being attacked. # Offender was previously convicted of a federal drug offense. # Offender was involved in a long-term business of selling drugs to minors. # A high-ranking official was murdered, such as the [[President of the United States]], the leader of another country, or a police officer. # Offender was previously convicted of sexual assault or child rape. # During the crime's commission, the offender [[Mass murder|killed or tried to kill multiple people]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/serial-killers/serials-killers-vs-mass-murderers/|title=Serial Killers vs. Mass Murderers – Crime Museum|work=Crime Museum|access-date=May 4, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref> ===Crimes against the state=== The opinion of the court in ''Kennedy v. Louisiana'' says that the ruling does not apply to "treason, espionage, terrorism, and drug kingpin activity, which are offenses against the State".<ref>''Kennedy v. Louisiana'', 554 U.S. 407, 437 (2007); see also {{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/washington/26scotuscnd.html|title=Supreme Court Rejects Death Penalty for Child Rape|date=June 26, 2008|accessdate=March 11, 2011|first=Linda|last=Greenhouse|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|quote=The court went beyond the question in the case to rule out the death penalty for any individual crime – as opposed to "offenses against the state", such as treason or espionage – "where the victim's life was not taken.}}</ref> Since no one is on death row for such offenses, the court has yet to rule on the constitutionality of the death penalty applied for them. [[Treason]], [[espionage]] and [[Drug lord|large-scale drug trafficking]] are all capital crimes under federal law. Treason is also punishable by death in six states (Arkansas, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri). Large-scale drug trafficking is punishable by death in two states (Florida and Missouri),<ref name="DPIC">{{cite web |title=Death Penalty for Offenses Other Than Murder |url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?&did=2347 |publisher=Death Penalty Information Center |year=2008 |accessdate=January 28, 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080221191021/http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?&did=2347 |archivedate=February 21, 2008 }}</ref> and [[aircraft hijacking]] in two others (Georgia and Mississippi). Vermont still has a pre-''Furman'' statute providing the death penalty for treason despite removing capital punishment for murder in 1965.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/13/075/03401|title=§ 3401. Definition and punishment of treason|publisher=legislature.vermont.gov|accessdate=December 9, 2016}}</ref> ==Legal process== The legal administration of the death penalty in the United States typically involves five critical steps: (1) [[prosecutor]]ial decision to seek the death penalty (2) [[Sentence (law)|sentencing]], (3) direct review, (4) state collateral review, and (5) federal [[habeas corpus]]. Clemency, through which the [[Governor]] or [[President (government title)|President]] of the [[jurisdiction]] can unilaterally reduce or abrogate a death sentence, is an [[executive power|executive]] rather than [[judicial power|judicial]] process.<ref>See generally [[Separation of powers]].</ref> ===Decision to seek the death penalty=== While judges in criminal cases can usually impose a harsher prison sentence than the one demanded by prosecution, the death penalty can be handed down only if the accuser has specifically decided to seek it. In the decades since ''[[Furman v. Georgia|Furman]]'', new questions have emerged about whether or not prosecutorial arbitrariness has replaced sentencing arbitrariness. A study by [[Pepperdine University School of Law]] published in ''[[Temple Law Review]]'', surveyed the decision-making process among prosecutors in various states. The authors found that prosecutors' capital punishment filing decisions are marked by local "idiosyncrasies", and that wide prosecutorial discretion remains because of overly broad criteria. California law, for example, has 22 "special circumstances", making nearly all first-degree murders potential capital cases.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/criminal-justice/transparency-death-penalty/ |title = Unpredictable Doom and Lethal Injustice: An Argument for Greater Transparency in Death Penalty Decisions |publisher = Journalist's Resource.org}}</ref> A proposed remedy against prosecutorial arbitrariness is to transfer the prosecution of capital cases to the state attorney general.<ref name="ReferenceGershowitz">{{cite web |title= Statewide Capital Punishment: The Case for Eliminating Counties' Role in the Death Penalty |url= http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/facpubs/1255/ |accessdate= March 20, 2016 |author=Adam M. Gershowitz}}</ref> In 2017, Florida governor [[Rick Scott]] removed all capital cases from local prosecutor [[Aramis Ayala]] because she decided to never seek the death penalty no matter the gravity of the crime.<ref>{{cite web |title= Florida Supreme Court backs Gov. Scott in Orlando death-penalty dispute |url=https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2017/08/31/florida-supreme-court-backs-gov-scott-in-orlando-death-penalty-dispute/ |accessdate= May 10, 2020 |author=Kristen M. Clark}}</ref> ===Sentencing=== Of the 28 states with the death penalty, 26 require the sentence to be decided by a [[jury]], and 25 require a unanimous decision by that jury. The only state which does not require a unanimous jury decision is Alabama. In Alabama, at least 10 jurors must concur. A retrial happens if the jury deadlocks.<ref>{{cite web |title= SB 16 To amend Sections 13A-5-45, 13A-5-46, and 13A-5-47, Code of Alabama 1975, relating to capital cases and to the determination of the sentence by courts; to prohibit a court from overriding a jury verdict.|url=http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/alison/searchableinstruments/2017RS/bills/SB16.htm|publisher= legislature.state.al.us |accessdate= April 12, 2017}}</ref> Nebraska is the only state in which the sentence is decided by a three-judge panel. If one of the judges on the panel opposes death, the defendant is sentenced to life imprisonment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://law.justia.com/codes/nebraska/2014/chapter-29/statute-29-2521/ |title=2014 Nebraska Revised Statutes – Chapter 29 – CRIMINAL PROCEDURE – 29-2521 – Sentencing determination proceeding. |publisher=law.justia.com |accessdate=April 16, 2017}}</ref> Montana is the only state where the trial judge decides the sentence alone.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://leg.mt.gov/bills/mca/title_0460/chapter_0180/part_0030/section_0010/0460-0180-0030-0010.html |title= 46-18-301. Hearing on imposition of death penalty. |publisher= leg.mt.gov |accessdate=April 16, 2017}}</ref> In all states in which the jury is involved, only [[Death-qualified jury|death-qualified]] veniremen can be selected in such a jury, to exclude both people who will always vote for the death sentence and those who are categorically opposed to it. However, the states differ on what happens if the penalty phase results in a [[hung jury]]:<ref>{{cite web |title= Provisions of state and federal statutes concerning sentence if capital sentencing jury cannot agree |url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/JuryDeadlockLaws.pdf |publisher= A. Parrent, Conn. Public Def |accessdate= March 15, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= SB 280: Sentencing for Capital Felonies |url=http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2017/0280/ |publisher= flsenate.gov |accessdate= March 15, 2017}}</ref> * In four states (Arizona, California, Kentucky and Nevada), a retrial of the penalty phase will be conducted before a different jury (the common-law rule for [[mistrial]]).<ref>See ''[https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/22/579/case.html United States v. Perez]'', 1824</ref> * In two states (Indiana and Missouri), the judge will decide the sentence. * In the 19 other states, a hung jury results in a [[life sentence]], even if only one juror opposed death. Federal law also provides that outcome. The first outcome is referred as the "true unanimity" rule, while the third has been criticized as the "single-juror veto" rule.<ref>K. Scheidegger, "Hurst v. Florida Remedial Legislation and SBP 7068", February 4, 2016</ref> ===Direct review=== If a defendant is sentenced to death at the trial level, the case then goes into a direct review.<ref name="18USC3595">See, e.g., [https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/3595- 18 U.S.C. § 3595.] ("In a case in which a sentence of death is imposed, the sentence shall be subject to review by the court of appeals upon appeal by the defendant.")</ref> The direct review process is a typical legal [[appeal]]. An [[Court of Appeals|appellate court]] examines the record of evidence presented in the trial court and the law that the lower court applied and decides whether the decision was legally sound or not.<ref>See generally [[Appeal]].</ref> Direct review of a capital sentencing hearing will result in one of three outcomes. If the appellate court finds that no significant legal errors occurred in the capital sentencing hearing, the appellate court will affirm the judgment, or let the sentence stand.<ref name="18USC3595"/> If the appellate court finds that significant legal errors did occur, then it will reverse the judgment, or nullify the sentence and order a new capital sentencing hearing.<ref name="poland">[http://supreme.justia.com/us/476/147/case.html Poland v. Arizona, 476 U.S. 147 152–154 (1986)].</ref> Lastly, if the appellate court finds that no reasonable juror could find the defendant eligible for the death penalty, a rarity, then it will order the defendant acquitted, or not guilty, of the crime for which he/she was given the death penalty, and order him sentenced to the next most severe punishment for which the offense is eligible.<ref name="poland"/> About 60 percent survive the process of direct review intact.<ref>Eric M. Freedman, "Giarratano is a Scarecrow: The Right to Counsel in State Postconviction Proceedings, Legalize Drugs" 91 Cornell L. Rev. 1079, 1097 (2001)</ref> ===State collateral review=== At times when a death sentence is affirmed on direct review, supplemental methods to attack the judgment, though less familiar than a typical appeal, do remain. These supplemental remedies are considered collateral review, that is, an avenue for upsetting judgments that have become otherwise final.<ref>[http://supreme.justia.com/us/489/288/case.html Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288, 306 (1989)].</ref> Where the prisoner received his death sentence in a state-level trial, as is usually the case, the first step in collateral review is state collateral review, which is often called state habeas corpus. (If the case is a federal death penalty case, it proceeds immediately from direct review to federal habeas corpus.) Although all states have some type of collateral review, the process varies widely from state to state.<ref>LaFave, Israel, & King, 6 Crim. Proc. § 28.11(b) (2d ed. 2007).</ref> Generally, the purpose of these collateral proceedings is to permit the prisoner to challenge his sentence on grounds that could not have been raised reasonably at trial or on direct review.<ref>LaFave, Israel, & King, 6 Crim. Proc. § 28.11(a) (2d ed. 2007).</ref> Most often, these are claims, such as [[ineffective assistance of counsel]], which requires the court to consider new evidence outside the original trial record, something courts may not do in an ordinary [[appeal]]. State collateral review, though an important step in that it helps define the scope of subsequent review through federal habeas corpus, is rarely successful in and of itself. Only around 6 percent of death sentences are overturned on state collateral review.<ref name=autogenerated1>Eric M. Freedman, "Giarratano is a Scarecrow: The Right to Counsel in State Postconviction Proceedings", 91 Cornell L. Rev. 1079, 1097 (2006).</ref> In Virginia, state habeas corpus for condemned men are heard by the [[Virginia Supreme Court|state supreme court]] under exclusive [[original jurisdiction]] since 1995, immediately after direct review by the same court.<ref>{{cite web |title= Code of Virginia – § 8.01-654. When and by whom writ granted; what petition to contain. |url=http://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title8.01/chapter25/section8.01-654/ |publisher=Law.lis.virginia.gov |accessdate= March 22, 2016}}</ref> This avoids any proceeding before the lower courts, and is in part why Virginia has the shortest time on average between death sentence and execution (less than eight years) and has executed 113 offenders since 1976 with only five remaining on death row {{as of|2017|June|lc=y}}.<ref>{{cite web |title= Virginia's execution history |url=https://www.vadp.org/dp-info/virginias-execution-history/ |publisher=vadp.org |accessdate=June 4, 2017}}{{cite web |title= Virginia's death row inmates |url=https://www.vadp.org/dp-info/virginias-death-row-inmates/ |publisher=vadp.org |accessdate=June 4, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Conviction to Execution "Takes Too Long" |url=http://www.ktrh.com/articles/houston-news-121300/conviction-to-execution-takes-too-long-14356331/ |publisher=ktrh.com |accessdate=March 22, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407132114/http://www.ktrh.com/articles/houston-news-121300/conviction-to-execution-takes-too-long-14356331/ |archive-date=April 7, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> To reduce litigation delays, other states require convicts to file their state collateral appeal before the completion of their direct appeal,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crimeandconsequences.com/crimblog/files/documents/Ch154RegCmnt.pdf |title= OJP Docket No. 1464, Certification Process for State Capital Counsel Systems |publisher=crimeandconsequences.com |accessdate= March 15, 2017}}</ref> or provide adjudication of direct and collateral attacks together in a "unitary review".<ref>{{cite web |url= http://tornado.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/olls/sl1997/sl_268.htm |title= AN ACT Concerning a unitary procedure for review in class 1 felony cases in which a death sentence is sought as punishment. |publisher= tornado.state.co.us |accessdate= March 15, 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151018093526/http://tornado.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/olls/sl1997/sl_268.htm |archive-date= October 18, 2015 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all }}</ref> ===Federal ''habeas corpus''=== After a death sentence is affirmed in state collateral review, the prisoner may file for federal ''[[habeas corpus]]'', which is a unique type of lawsuit that can be brought in federal courts. Federal ''habeas corpus'' is a type of collateral review, and it is the only way that state prisoners may attack a death sentence in federal court (other than petitions for [[certiorari]] to the United States Supreme Court after both direct review and state collateral review). The scope of federal ''habeas corpus'' is governed by the [[Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996]] (AEDPA), which restricted significantly its previous scope. The purpose of federal ''habeas corpus'' is to ensure that state courts, through the process of direct review and state collateral review, have done a reasonable job in protecting the prisoner's federal [[constitutional right]]s. Prisoners may also use federal ''habeas corpus'' suits to bring forth new evidence that they are innocent of the crime, though to be a valid defense at this late stage in the process, evidence of innocence must be truly compelling.<ref>[[House v. Bell]], 126 S. Ct. 2064 (2006)</ref> According to Eric Freedman, 21 percent of death penalty cases are reversed through federal ''habeas corpus''.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> James Liebman, a professor of law at Columbia Law School, stated in 1996 that his study found that when ''habeas corpus'' petitions in death penalty cases were traced from conviction to completion of the case, there was "a 40 percent success rate in all capital cases from 1978 to 1995".<ref>{{Cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E0DB1039F932A35757C0A960958260 | work=The New York Times | title=Habeas Corpus Studies | date=April 1, 1996 | accessdate=April 28, 2010}}</ref> Similarly, a study by Ronald Tabak in a law review article puts the success rate in ''habeas corpus'' cases involving death row inmates even higher, finding that between "1976 and 1991, approximately 47 percent of the habeas petitions filed by death row inmates were granted".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Walpin|first1=Ned|title=The New Speed-up in Habeas Corpus Appeals|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/execution/readings/speed.html|website=Frontline|publisher=PBS|accessdate=February 5, 2017}}</ref> The different numbers are largely definitional, rather than substantive: Freedam's statistics looks at the percentage of all death penalty cases reversed, while the others look only at cases not reversed prior to ''habeas corpus'' review. A similar process is available for prisoners sentenced to death by the judgment of a federal court.<ref>see 28 U.S.C. § 2255.</ref> The AEDPA also provides an expeditious ''habeas'' procedure in capital cases for states meeting several requirements set forth in it concerning counsel appointment for death row inmates.<ref>28 USC §§ 2261 – 2266</ref> Under this program, federal ''habeas corpus'' for condemned prisoners would be decided in about three years from affirmance of the sentence on state collateral review. In 2006, [[U.S. Congress|Congress]] conferred the determination of whether a state fulfilled the requirements to the [[U.S. attorney general]], with a possible appeal of the state to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit]]. {{as of|2016|March}}, the Department of Justice has still not granted any certifications.<ref>{{cite web |title= Court Gives Green Light to Death Penalty Fast-Tracking |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/court-green-light-death-penalty-fast-tracking-37886309 |publisher= abcnews.go.com |accessdate=March 24, 2016}}</ref> ===Section 1983=== If the federal court refuses to issue a [[writ]] of ''habeas corpus'', the death sentence ordinarily becomes final for all purposes. In recent times, however, prisoners have postponed execution through another avenue of federal litigation; the [[Civil Rights Act of 1871]] – codified at {{usc|42|1983}} – allows complainants to bring lawsuits against state actors to protect their federal constitutional and statutory rights. While direct appeals are normally limited to just one and automatically stay the execution of the death sentence, Section 1983 lawsuits are unlimited, but the petitioner will be granted a stay of execution only if the court believes he has a likelihood of success on the merits.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/576/14-7955/ |title = Glossip v. Gross 576 U.S. ___ (2015) |publisher = justia.com |accessdate= March 20, 2016}}</ref> Traditionally, Section 1983 was of limited use for a state prisoner under sentence of death because the Supreme Court has held that ''habeas corpus'', not Section 1983, is the only vehicle by which a state prisoner can challenge his judgment of death.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/93-6188.ZS.html |title=Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994) |publisher=Law.cornell.edu |accessdate=December 1, 2011}}</ref> In the 2006 ''[[Hill v. McDonough]]'' case, however, the United States Supreme Court approved the use of Section 1983 as a vehicle for challenging a state's method of execution as [[cruel and unusual punishment]] in violation of the [[Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Eighth Amendment]]. The theory is that a prisoner bringing such a challenge is not attacking directly his judgment of death, but rather the means by which that the judgment will be carried out. Therefore, the Supreme Court held in the ''Hill'' case that a prisoner can use Section 1983 rather than ''habeas corpus'' to bring the lawsuit. Yet, as [[Clarence Hill (murderer)|Clarence Hill]]'s own case shows, lower federal courts have often refused to hear suits challenging methods of execution on the ground that the prisoner brought the claim too late and only for the purposes of delay. Further, the Court's decision in ''[[Baze v. Rees]]'', upholding a lethal injection method used by many states, has narrowed the opportunity for relief through Section 1983. ===Execution warrant=== While the [[execution warrant]] is issued by the governor in several states, in the vast majority it is a judicial order, issued by a judge or by the state supreme court at the request of the prosecution. The warrant usually sets an execution day. Some states instead provide a longer period, such as a week or 10 days to carry out the execution. This is designated to avoid issuing a new warrant in case of a last-minute stay of execution that would be vacated only few days or few hours later.<ref>{{cite web |title=2014 Georgia Code – § 17-10-34 – Sentence to specify time period for and place of execution |url=http://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2014/title-17/chapter-10/article-2/section-17-10-34/ |publisher= law.justia.com |accessdate=April 3, 2016}}</ref> ==Distribution of sentences== [[File:Death sentences United States (new).png|thumb|right|300px| Total number of prisoners on Death Row in the United States from 1953 to 2008]] In recent years there has been an average of one death sentence for every 200 murder convictions in the United States. Alabama has the highest ''per capita'' rate of death sentences. This is because Alabama was one of the few states that allowed judges to override a jury recommendation in favor of life imprisonment, a possibility it removed in March 2017.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eji.org/deathpenalty |title=Death Penalty |publisher=Equal Justice Initiative |date= |accessdate=October 29, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823045344/http://eji.org/deathpenalty |archive-date=August 23, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://wrbl.com/2017/04/11/alabama-ends-death-penalty-by-judicial-override/|title=Alabama ends death penalty by judicial override|publisher=Associated Press at [[WBRL]]|date=March 11, 2017|accessdate=March 13, 2017}}</ref> ===Among states=== The distribution of death sentences among states is loosely proportional to their populations and murder rates. [[California]], which is the most populous state, has also the largest death row with over 700 inmates. [[Wyoming]], which is the least populous state, has only one condemned man. But executions are more frequent (and happen more quickly after sentencing) in conservative states. [[Texas]], which is the second most populous state in the Union, carried out over 500 executions during the post-''Furman'' era, more than a third of the national total. California has carried out only 13 executions during the same period, and has carried out none since 2006.<ref name="CB2">{{cite web| last=Lundin|first=Leigh |title=Executed Prisoners in Texas |url=http://criminalbrief.com/?page_id=13627 |work=Last Words |publisher=Criminal Brief |accessdate=November 5, 2010 }}</ref><ref name="CB1">{{cite web | date=August 22, 2010 | last=Lundin|first=Leigh |title=Last Words |url=http://criminalbrief.com/?p=13542 |work=Capital Punishment |publisher=Criminal Brief }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Facts about the Death Penalty |url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf|publisher=[[Death Penalty Information Center]] |accessdate= April 21, 2017|page=3}}</ref> ===Among races=== {{Main|Race and capital punishment in the United States}} African Americans made up 41% of death row inmates while making up only 12.6% of the general population. They have made up 34% of those actually executed since 1976. However, this is an under-representation relative to the proportion of convicted murderers; 52.5% of all homicide offenders between 1980 and 2008 were African Americans.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf|title=Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980–2008|page=3}}</ref> Approximately 13.5% of death row inmates are of [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic or Latino]] descent, while they make up 17.4% of the general population.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/new-resources-hispanics-and-death-penalty|title=Hispanics and the Death Penalty|publisher=Death Penalty Information Center|accessdate=February 22, 2016}}</ref> ===Among sexes=== As of October 1, 2016, the Death Penalty Information Center reports that there are 54 women on death row. This constitutes 1.86% of the total death row population. 16 women have been executed since 1976,<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/women-and-death-penalty|title=Women and the Death Penalty {{!}} Death Penalty Information Center|website=deathpenaltyinfo.org|language=en|access-date=November 8, 2017}}</ref> while 1,442 men have been executed,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf|title=Facts About the Death Penalty|last=|first=|date=|website=|access-date=}}</ref> making women 1.09% of those executed between 1976 and 2016. No women have been executed in the United States since the end of 2016. In comparison, 74 men were executed in the same period.<ref>[https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2013/07/19/us/death-penalty-fast-facts/index.html] CNN: Death Penalty Fast Facts</ref> These developments reduced the above proportion to 1.05%. Since 1608, 15,391 lawful executions have been carried out in jurisdictions of, or now of, the United States, of these, 575, or 3.6%, were women. Women account for {{frac|1|50|}} death sentences, {{frac|1|67|}} people on death row, and {{frac|1|100|}} people whose executions are actually carried out. Historically, the states that have executed the most women are California, Texas and Florida. For women, the racial breakdown of those sentenced to death is 61% white, 21% black, 13% Latina, 3% Asian, and 2% American Indian.<ref name=":0" /> Though always a comparatively rare occurence, executions of women in the U.S. are significantIy less likely in the modern (post Furman) era than they were in the past. Of the 16 female executions since 1976, most were carried out by either Texas (6), Oklahoma (3) or Florida (2). ==Methods== [[File:Map of US lethal injection usage.svg|alt=|thumb|250x250px|Usage of lethal injection in the US. {{legend|#CC6633;|State uses only this method.}} {{legend|#FF9900;|State uses this method primarily but also has other methods.}} {{legend|#7fff00;|State once used this method, but does not today.}} {{legend|#0048BA;|State once adopted this method, but dropped before its use.}} {{legend|#0099CC;|State has never adopted this method.}}]] [[File:Methods of executions in the United States.PNG|thumb|Number of executions each year by the method used in the United States and the earlier colonies from 1608 to 2004. The adoption of electrocution caused a marked drop off in the number of hangings, which was used even less with the use of gas inhalation. After ''[[Gregg v. Georgia]]'', most states changed to lethal injection, leading to its rise.]] All 28 states with the death penalty for murder provide [[lethal injection]] as the primary method of execution. Vermont's remaining death penalty statute for treason provides [[electrocution]] as the method of execution.<ref name="Vermont Laws"/> Some states allow other methods than lethal injection, but only as secondary methods to be used merely at the request of the prisoner or if lethal injection is unavailable.<ref name="Reference11">{{cite web |title= Methods of Execution |url= http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/methods.htm |publisher= clarkprosecutor.org | accessdate=March 28, 2016}}</ref><ref name="Reference22">{{cite web|url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/methods-execution|title=Methods of Execution|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=deathpenaltyinfo.org|accessdate=June 14, 2020}}</ref> Several states continue to use the historical three-drug protocol: firstly an [[anesthetic]], secondly [[pancuronium bromide]], a paralytic, and finally [[potassium chloride]] to stop the heart.<ref name="DPIC2016">{{cite web|title=State by State Lethal Injection|url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-lethal-injection|publisher=Death Penalty Information Center|accessdate=May 14, 2016}}</ref> Eight states have used a single-drug protocol, inflicting only an overdose of a single anesthetic to the prisoner.<ref name="DPIC2016"/> While some state statutes specify the drugs required, a majority do not, giving more flexibility to prison officers.<ref name="DPIC2016"/> Pressures from anti-death penalty activists and shareholders have made it difficult for correctional services to get the chemicals. Hospira, the only U.S. manufacturer of sodium thiopental, stopped making the drug in 2011.<ref name = NYT2016/> In 2016, it was reported that more than 20 U.S. and European drug manufacturers including [[Pfizer]] (the owner of Hospira) had taken steps to prevent their drugs from being used for lethal injections.<ref name = NYT2016>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/14/us/pfizer-execution-drugs-lethal-injection.html|title=Pfizer Blocks the Use of Its Drugs in Executions|last=Eckholm|first=Erik|date=May 13, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=May 14, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/will-the-eu-kill-americas-death-penalty |title=Will the EU kill America's Death Penalty? |last=Richmond |first=Ben |date=October 28, 2013 |website=Motherboard |publisher=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice Media, Inc.]] |accessdate=November 5, 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102084023/http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/will-the-eu-kill-americas-death-penalty |archivedate=November 2, 2013 }}</ref><ref name = "tnr">{{cite news |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/115284/big-pharma-may-end-death-penalty |title=Big Pharma May Help End The Death Penalty |newspaper=[[The New Republic]] |last=Algar |first=Clare |date=October 22, 2013 |accessdate=November 5, 2013}}</ref> Since then, some states have used other anesthetics, such as [[pentobarbital]], [[etomidate]],<ref>''[[The Washington Post]]'': [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/08/24/a-death-penalty-first-for-florida-executing-a-white-man-for-killing-a-black-man/ A death penalty landmark for Florida: Executing a white man for killing a black man]</ref> or fast-acting [[benzodiazepine]]s like [[midazolam]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/30/us/supreme-court-execution-drug.html|title=Supreme Court Allows Use of Execution Drug|last=Liptak|first=Adam|date=June 29, 2015|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=October 5, 2016}}</ref> Many states have since bought lethal injection drugs from foreign furnishers, and most states have made it a criminal offense to reveal the identities of furnishers or execution team members.<ref name = NYT2016/><ref>{{cite web |title= Secret Execution Team, Firing Squads, Restricted Media Included in House Bill |url=http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2016/mar/28/secret-execution-team-firing-squads-restricted-med/ |publisher= jacksonfreepress.com |accessdate=April 6, 2016}}</ref> In November 2015, California adopted regulations allowing the state to use its own public compounding pharmacies to make the chemicals.<ref>{{cite web |title= Notice of change to regulations |url= http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Regulations/Adult_Operations/docs/NCDR/2015NCR/15-10/NCR%2015-10%20Notice%20of%20Proposed%20Regulations.pdf |publisher= cdcr.ca.gov |accessdate= May 22, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160115033513/http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Regulations/Adult_Operations/docs/NCDR/2015NCR/15-10/NCR%2015-10%20Notice%20of%20Proposed%20Regulations.pdf |archive-date= January 15, 2016 |url-status= dead }}</ref> In 2009, Ohio approved the use of an intramuscular injection of 500&nbsp;mg of [[hydromorphone]] (a 333-fold lethal overdose for an opioid-naive person)<ref>Mosby's 2004 "Hydromorphone"</ref> and a supratherapeutic dose of [[midazolam]] as a backup means of carrying out executions when a suitable vein cannot be found for intravenous injection.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.drc.ohio.gov/public/press/press342.htm | title=Ohio Prisons Director Announces Changes to Ohio's Execution Process | date=November 13, 2009 | publisher=[[Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction]] | accessdate=January 17, 2014 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115131421/http://www.drc.ohio.gov/Public/press/press342.htm | archivedate=January 15, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-28457460 |title=Arizona execution takes two hours| date= July 24, 2014 | work= BBC News | accessdate=July 24, 2014 }}</ref> Lethal injection was held to be a constitutional method of execution by the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] in three cases: ''[[Baze v. Rees]]'' (2008), ''[[Glossip v. Gross]]'' (2015), and ''[[Bucklew v. Precythe]]'' (2019).<ref>{{cite news|title= High court upholds lethal injection method|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/04/16/scotus.injections/index.html|accessdate=June 30, 2017|work=[[Cable News Network]] (CNN)|date= April 16, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title= Supreme Court backs use of lethal injection drug |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/29/politics/supreme-court-lethal-injection-ruling/index.html|accessdate=June 30, 2017|work=[[Cable News Network]] (CNN)|date=June 29, 2015}}</ref> ===Offender-selected methods=== In the following states, death row inmates with an execution warrant may choose to be executed by:<ref name="Reference22"/> * [[Electric chair|Electrocution]] in Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. * [[Gas chamber#United States|Lethal gas]] in Arizona and California. * [[Execution by firing squad|Firing squad]] in Utah, Mississippi and Oklahoma. In four states (Arizona, Kentucky, Tennessee and Utah), the alternative method is offered only to inmates sentenced to death for crimes committed prior to a specified date (usually when the state switched from the earlier method to lethal injection). When an offender chooses to be executed by a means different from the state default method, which is always lethal injection, he/she loses the right to challenge its constitutionality in court. See ''Stewart v. LaGrand'', 526 U.S. 115 (1999). The last executions by methods other than injection are as follows (all chosen by the inmate): {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Method !! Date !! State !! Inmate |- | [[Electric chair|Electrocution]] | {{dts|February 20, 2020}} | [[Tennessee]] | Nicholas Todd Sutton |- | [[Execution by firing squad|Firing squad]] | {{dts|June 18, 2010}} | [[Utah]] | [[Ronnie Lee Gardner]] |- |[[Gas chamber#United States|Lethal gas]] | {{dts|March 3, 1999}} | [[Arizona]] | [[LaGrand case|Walter Bernhard LaGrand]] |- | [[Hanging]] | {{dts|January 25, 1996}} | [[Delaware]] | [[Billy Bailey]] |} ===Backup methods=== Depending on the state, the following alternative methods are statutorily provided in the event that lethal injection is either found unconstitutional by a court or unavailable for practical reasons:<ref name="Reference11"/><ref name="Reference22"/><ref>South Carolina Code of Laws: {{cite web |title= Section 24-3-530. Death by electrocution or lethal injection. |url= http://law.justia.com/codes/south-carolina/2015/title-24/chapter-3/section-24-3-530/ |publisher= law.justia.com |accessdate= June 4, 2016}}</ref> * Electrocution in Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky,<ref>{{cite web |title= Method of execution in event of unconstitutionality of KRS 431.220 |url= https://codes.findlaw.com/ky/title-xl-crimes-and-punishments/ky-rev-st-sect-431-223.html |publisher= codes.findlaw.com |accessdate= March 22, 2020}}</ref> Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee. * Lethal gas in Alabama, California, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Wyoming. * Firing squad in Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah. Three states (Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah) have added back-up methods recently in 2014 or 2015 (or have expanded their application fields) in reaction to the shortage of lethal injection drugs.<ref>{{cite web |title= How to kill: America's death penalty dilemma |url= http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/24/us/state-of-death-penalty-in-graphs-and-charts/ |publisher= cnn.com |accessdate= March 28, 2016}}</ref> Oklahoma and Mississippi are the only states allowing more than two methods of execution in their statutes, providing lethal injection, [[nitrogen hypoxia]], electrocution and firing squad to be used in that order in the event that all earlier methods are unavailable. The nitrogen option was added by the Oklahoma Legislature in 2015 and has never been used in a judicial execution.<ref name="nitrogen">{{cite web |title= The Dawn of a New Form of Capital Punishment |url= http://time.com/3749879/nitrogen-gas-execution-oklahoma-lethal-injection/ |publisher= Time |date= April 17, 2015}}</ref> After struggling for years to design a nitrogen execution protocol and to obtain a proper device for it, Oklahoma announced in February 2020 it abandoned the project after finding a new reliable source of lethal injection drugs.<ref>{{cite web |title= Oklahoma Attorney general says state will resume executions |url= https://nypost.com/2020/02/13/oklahoma-attorney-general-says-state-will-resume-executions/ |publisher= nypost.com |accessdate= March 22, 2020}}</ref> Some states such as Florida have a larger provision dealing with execution methods unavailability, requiring their state departments of corrections to use "any constitutional method" if both lethal injection and electrocution are found unconstitutional. This was designed to make unnecessary any further legislative intervention in that event, but the provision applies only to legal (not practical) infeasibility.<ref>{{cite web |title= 922.105 – Execution of death sentence |url= http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0900-0999/0922/Sections/0922.105.html |publisher= leg.state.fl.us |accessdate= March 28, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= 40-23-114 – Death by lethal injection Election of electrocution. |url= http://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/2010/title-40/chapter-23/40-23-114/ |publisher= law.justia.com |accessdate= March 30, 2016}}</ref> ===Federal executions=== The method of execution of federal prisoners for offenses under the [[Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994]] is that of the state in which the conviction took place. If the state has no death penalty, the judge must choose a state with the death penalty for carrying out the execution. The federal government has a facility (at [[U.S. Penitentiary Terre Haute]]) and regulations only for executions by lethal injection, but the [[United States Code]] allows [[U.S. Marshals]] to use state facilities and employees for federal executions.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/28/26.3 |title= § 26.3 Date, time, place, and method of execution. |publisher= law.cornell.edu |accessdate= March 15, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/3597 |title= 18 U.S. Code § 3597 – Use of State facilities |publisher= law.cornell.edu |accessdate= March 15, 2017}}</ref> ==Execution attendance== [[File:TimothyMcVeighPerryOKApr2195.jpg|right|thumb|250px|The over 200 witnesses to the execution of Timothy McVeigh were mostly survivors and victims' relatives of the [[Oklahoma City bombing]].]] The last public execution in the U.S. was that of [[Rainey Bethea]] in [[Owensboro, Kentucky]], on August 14, 1936. It was the last execution in the nation at which the general public was permitted to attend without any legally imposed restrictions. "Public execution" is a legal phrase, defined by the laws of various states, and carried out pursuant to a court order. Similar to "[[public records|public record]]" or "public meeting", it means that anyone who wants to attend the execution may do so. Around 1890, a political movement developed in the United States to mandate private executions. Several states enacted laws which required executions to be conducted within a "wall" or "enclosure", or to "exclude public view". Most state laws currently use such explicit wording to prohibit public executions, while others do so only implicitly by enumerating the only authorized witnesses.<ref>[http://law.justia.com/codes/connecticut/2011/title54/chap961/Sec54-100.html Connecticut § 54–100] [http://www.lrc.ky.gov/krs/431-00/220.pdf Kentucky 431.220] [http://law.justia.com/codes/missouri/2011/titlexxxvii/chapter546/section546730/ Missouri § 546.730] [http://law.justia.com/codes/new-mexico/2006/nmrc/jd_31-14-12-d041.html New Mexico § 31-14-12] [http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIV/TitleII/Chapter279/Section60 ch. 279 Massachusetts § 60] [http://law.justia.com/codes/north-carolina/2010/chapter15/article19/section15-188/ North Carolina § 15-188] [http://law.justia.com/codes/oklahoma/2010/Title22/Title22.html Oklahoma Title 22 § 1015] [http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/mtcode/46/19/1/46-19-103 Montana § 46-19-103] [http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2949.22 Ohio § 2949.22] [http://www.lawserver.com/law/state/tennessee/tn-code/tennessee_code_40-23-116 Tennessee § 40-23-116] [https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/usc_sec_18_00003596----000-.html US Code Title 18 § 3596] [http://cfr.vlex.com/vid/26-4-other-execution-procedures-19676580 Federal regulations 28 CFR 26.4] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140118085043/http://cfr.vlex.com/vid/26-4-other-execution-procedures-19676580 |date=January 18, 2014 }}</ref> All states allow news reporters to be execution witnesses for information of the general public, except Wyoming which allows only witnesses authorized by the condemned.<ref>{{cite web|title = Texas Execution Information – Texas Execution Primer|url = http://www.txexecutions.org/primer.asp|website = www.txexecutions.org|accessdate = August 5, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title = States go hunting for execution witnesses |url = http://orig.jacksonsun.com/fe/exec/witnesses.shtml|website = jacksonsun.com |accessdate = July 15, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title = Wyoming Code § 7-13-908 |url =http://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/2016/title-7/chapter-13/article-9/section-7-13-908/ |website = law.justia.com |accessdate = July 15, 2017}}</ref> Several states also allow victims' families and relatives selected by the prisoner to watch executions. An hour or two before the execution, the condemned is offered religious services and to choose his or her [[last meal]] (except in Texas which abolished it in 2011). The execution of [[Timothy McVeigh]] on June 11, 2001, was witnessed by over 200 people, most by closed-circuit television. ==Public opinion== {{Essay-like|section|date=July 2019}} [[Gallup, Inc.]] has monitored support for the death penalty in the United States since 1937 by asking "Are you in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder?" Gallup surveys documented a sharp increase in support for capital punishment between 1966 and 1994.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/1606/death-penalty.aspx |title=Death Penalty |website=Gallup |accessdate=July 24, 2019}}</ref><!-- Removed speculative statement not substantiated in the cited source. --> However, perhaps as the result of DNA exonerations of death row inmates reported in the national media in the late 1990s,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Baumgartner. De Boef, Boydstun|first1=Frank, Suzanna, Amber|title=The Decline of the Death Penalty and the Discovery of Innocence|date=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0521715249|url=}}</ref> support began to wane, falling from 80% in 1994 to 56% in 2019. Moreover, approval varies substantially depending on the characteristics of the target and the alternatives posed, with much lower support for putting juveniles and the mentally ill to death (26% and 19%, respectively, in 2002).<ref name=":1" /> Given the fact that attitudes toward capital punishment are often responsive to events, to characteristics of the target and to alternatives, many believe that the conventional wisdom—that death penalty attitudes are impervious to change—is flawed. Accordingly, any analysis of death penalty attitudes must account for the responsiveness of such attitudes, as well as their reputed resistance to change.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Persuasion and Resistance: Race and the Death Penalty in America|first1=Mark|last1=Peffley|first2=Jon|last2=Hurwitz|date=October 1, 2007|journal=American Journal of Political Science|volume=51|issue=4|pages = 996–1012|doi=10.1111/j.1540-5907.2007.00293.x}}</ref> [[Pew Research Center|Pew Research]] polls have demonstrated declining American support for the death penalty: 80% in 1974, 78% in 1996, 55% in 2014, and 49% in 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/09/29/support-for-death-penalty-lowest-in-more-than-four-decades/|title=Support for death penalty lowest in more than four decades|last=Oliphant|first=Baxter|date=September 29, 2016|website=Dactank; News in Numbers|publisher=Pew Research Centre|access-date=October 5, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Shrinking Majority of Americans Support Death Penalty|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2014/03/28/shrinking-majority-of-americans-support-death-penalty/|accessdate=January 31, 2018|publisher=Pew Research Center|date=March 28, 2014}}</ref> The 2014 poll showed significant differences by race: 63% of whites, 40% of Hispanics and 36% of blacks, respectively, supported the death penalty in that year. However, in 2018, Pew's polls showed public support for the death penalty had increased to 54% from 49%. Since 2016, opinions among Republicans and Democrats have changed little, but the share of independents favoring the death penalty has increased by eight percentage points (from 44% to 52%).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/06/11/us-support-for-death-penalty-ticks-up-2018/|title=Public support for the death penalty ticks up|date=June 11, 2018}}</ref> A 2010 poll by Lake Research Partners found that 61% of voters would choose a penalty other than the death sentence for murder.<ref name="DPIC2015" /> When persons surveyed are given a choice between the death penalty and [[life imprisonment|life without parole]] for persons convicted of capital crimes, support for execution has traditionally been significantly lower than in polling that asks only if a person does or does not support the death penalty. In Gallup's 2019 survey, support for the sentence of life without parole surpassed that for the death penalty by a margin of 60% to 36%.<ref name=":1" /> A 2014 study found that the belief that the death penalty helps victims' families to heal may be wrong; more often than finding closure, victims' families felt anger and wanted revenge, with potential side effects of depression, [[Posttraumatic stress disorder|PTSD]] and a decreased satisfaction with life. Furthermore, the researchers found that a sense of compassion or remorse expressed from the perpetrator to the victim's family had a statistically significant positive effect on the family's ability to find closure.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Eaton|first=Judy|last2=Christensen|first2=Tony|date=June 23, 2014|title=Closure and its myths|journal=International Review of Victimology|volume=20|issue=3|pages=327–343|doi=10.1177/0269758014537148|issn=0269-7580}}</ref> In November 2009, another Gallup poll found that 77% of Americans believed that the mastermind of the [[9/11|September 11 attacks]], [[Khalid Sheikh Mohammed]], should receive the death penalty if convicted, 12 points higher than the rate of general support for the death penalty upon Gallup's most recent poll at the time.<ref>{{cite web |title=Americans at Odds With Recent Terror Trial Decisions |url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/124493/Americans-Odds-Recent-Terror-Trial-Decisions.aspx|publisher= gallup.com |accessdate=April 10, 2016}}</ref> A similar result was found in 2001 when respondents were polled about the execution of [[Timothy McVeigh]] for the [[Oklahoma City bombing]] that killed 168 people.<ref>{{cite web |title= Foes of death penalty say McVeigh is an exception |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001-05-03-mcveigh-cappunish.htm |publisher= usatoday.com |accessdate=April 10, 2016}}</ref> ==Debate== Capital punishment is a controversial issue, with many prominent organizations and individuals participating in the debate. [[Amnesty International]] and other groups oppose capital punishment on moral grounds. Some law enforcement organizations, and some victims' rights groups support capital punishment. The United States is one of the four [[Developed country|developed countries]] that still practice capital punishment, along with [[Capital punishment in Japan|Japan]], [[Capital punishment in Singapore|Singapore]], and [[Taiwan]]. Religious groups are widely split on the issue of capital punishment.<ref name="Religious Tolerance">{{cite web|url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/execut7.htm |title=ReligiousTolerance |publisher=ReligiousTolerance |accessdate=December 1, 2011}}</ref> The [[Fiqh Council of North America]], a group of highly influential Muslim scholars in the United States, has issued a [[fatwa]] calling for a moratorium on capital punishment in the United States until various preconditions in the legal system are met.<ref>[http://www.fiqhcouncil.org/Articles/GeneralFiqhIssues/tabid/170/ctl/Detail/mid/569/xmid/4/xmfid/1/Default.aspx]{{dead link|date=July 2016}}</ref> [[Reform Judaism]] has formally opposed the death penalty since 1959, when the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now the [[Union for Reform Judaism]]) resolved “that in the light of modern scientific knowledge and concepts of humanity, the resort to or continuation of capital punishment either by a state or by the national government is no longer morally justifiable.” The resolution goes on to say that the death penalty “lies as a stain upon civilization and our religious conscience.” In 1979, the [[Central Conference of American Rabbis]], the professional arm of the Reform rabbinate, resolved that, “both in concept and in practice, Jewish tradition found capital punishment repugnant” and there is no persuasive evidence “that capital punishment serves as a deterrent to crime.” <ref>{{cite web|url=https://reformjudaism.org/social-justice-advocacy/jewish-views/civil-rights/why-reform-judaism-opposes-death-penalty |title=Why Reform Judaism Opposes the Death Penalty |work=ReformJudaism.org |date= |accessdate=March 3, 2019}}</ref> In October 2009, the [[American Law Institute]] voted to disavow the framework for capital punishment that it had created in 1962, as part of the [[Model Penal Code]], "in light of the current intractable institutional and structural obstacles to ensuring a minimally adequate system for administering capital punishment". A study commissioned by the institute had said that experience had proved that the goal of individualized decisions about who should be executed and the goal of systemic fairness for minorities and others could not be reconciled.<ref>{{Cite news|work=The New York Times |author=Adam Lipak |date= January 4, 2010 |title=Group Gives Up Death Penalty Work |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/us/05bar.html}}</ref> {{As of|2017}}, 159 prisoners have been exonerated due to evidence of their innocence.<ref name="Dwyer-Moss, 760"/><ref name=DPIC2015>{{cite web|title=Facts about the Death Penalty|url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf|publisher=Death Penalty Information Center|accessdate=December 23, 2015|date=December 9, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-list-those-freed-death-row|title=Innocence: List of Those Freed From Death Row|date=October 28, 2010|accessdate=March 11, 2011|publisher=[[Death Penalty Information Center]]}}</ref> Advocates of the death penalty say that it deters crime, is a good tool for prosecutors in [[plea bargain]]ing,<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://wweek.com/editorial/3411/10288/ |title=Killing Time Dead Men Waiting on Oregon's Death Row |first=James |last=Pitkin |periodical=Willamette Week |date=January 23, 2008 |accessdate=March 11, 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080124040746/http://wweek.com/editorial/3411/10288/ |archivedate=January 24, 2008 }}</ref> improves the community by eliminating recidivism by executed criminals, provides "closure" to surviving victims or loved ones, and is a just penalty. Some advocates against the death penalty argue that "most of the rest of the world gave up on [[human sacrifice]] a long time ago."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Peacock |first1=John |url=https://www.metafilter.com/161691/Jeffrey-Wood#6672735 |publisher=Metafilter |accessdate=3 June 2020}}</ref> The murder rate is highest in the South (6.5 per 100,000 in 2016), where 80% of executions are carried out, and lowest in the Northeast (3.5 per 100,000), with less than 1% of executions. A report by the [[National Research Council (United States)|US National Research Council]] in 2012 stated that studies claiming a deterrent effect are "fundamentally flawed" and should not be used for policy decisions.<ref name=DPIC2015/> According to a survey of the former and present presidents of the country's top academic criminological societies, 88% of these experts rejected the notion that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder.<ref name=DPIC2015/> Data shows that the application of the death penalty is strongly influenced by racial bias.<ref name=DPIC2015/> Furthermore, some opponents argue that it is applied in an arbitrary manner by a criminal justice system that has been shown to be biased through the systemic influence of socio-economic, geographic, and gender factors.<ref>Londono, O. (2013), "A Retributive Critique of Racial Bias and Arbitrariness in Capital Punishment". ''Journal of Social Philosophy'', 44: 95–105. {{DOI| 10.1111/josp.12013}}</ref> Another argument in the [[capital punishment debate]] is the cost.<ref name=DPIC2015/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/opinion/l01death.html |title=Letter – Cost of the Death Penalty |location=California |work=The New York Times |date=February 28, 2009 |accessdate=December 1, 2011}}</ref> Various commentators predicted that the death penalty would likely have disappeared in the United States if Hillary Clinton had been elected U.S. President in November 2016 and allowed to appoint a liberal Supreme Court Justice to replace the late [[Antonin Scalia]]. Because Donald Trump won and citizens in three states voted the same day for ballot measures supporting capital punishment, columnists came to the conclusion that it will remain indefinitely.<ref>{{cite news |title=Trump can't break the Supreme Court |newspaper= washingtonpost.com |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-cant-break-the-supreme-court/2017/01/25/f99022d6-e324-11e6-a453-19ec4b3d09ba_story.html |date=January 25, 2017 |accessdate=June 23, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title= Tom Dolgenos: Under Trump, death penalty likely to remain |publisher= mcall.com |url=http://www.mcall.com/opinion/yourview/mc-death-penalty-supreme-court-dolgenos-20170122-story.html |date= January 23, 2017 |accessdate=June 23, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title= Capital Punishment After the 2016 Elections |publisher= www.fed-soc.org |url=http://www.fed-soc.org/multimedia/detail/capital-punishment-after-the-2016-elections-podcast |date= February 6, 2017 |accessdate=June 23, 2017}}</ref> === Botched executions === {{Further|Capital punishment#Movements towards non-painful execution}} One of the main arguments against the use of capital punishment in the United States is that there has been a long history of botched executions. University of Colorado Boulder Professor [[Michael L. Radelet]] described a "botched execution" as an [[Cruel and unusual punishment|execution that causes the prisoner to suffer for a long period of time]] before they die.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/us0406/8.htm|title=So Long as They Die: Lethal Injections in the United States: VI. Botched Executions|website=www.hrw.org|access-date=April 26, 2018}}</ref> This has led to citizens having the opinion that capital punishment is cruel and unusual punishment. The following is a short list of examples of botched executions that have occurred in the United States. * [[William Kemmler]] was the first person executed in the [[electric chair]], in 1890. After being pronounced dead after 17 seconds, he was found to be still alive. The current was applied a second time, for two minutes, to complete the death.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/Botched_Executions_in_American_History|title=Botched Executions in American History {{!}} Death Penalty Information Center|website=deathpenaltyinfo.org|language=en|access-date=May 4, 2018}}</ref> * In Arizona, it took [[Execution of Joseph Wood|Joseph Wood]] two hours to die after being [[Lethal injection|injected]].<ref name=slate>{{cite web|last1=Hannon|first1=Elliot|title=Arizona Man Gasps and Snorts During Lethal Injection Execution That Took Nearly Two Hours|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/07/23/botched_lethal_injection_of_joseph_wood_takes_two_hours.html|work=Slate|accessdate=July 24, 2014|date=July 23, 2014}}</ref> * In Alabama, the execution of [[Doyle Hamm]] was called off after prison medical staff spent nearly three hours attempting to insert an IV that could be used to administer the lethal injection drugs. In the process, the execution team punctured Hamm's bladder and femoral artery, causing significant bleeding.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/26/gory-botched-alabamas-aborted-execution-of-inmate-was-bloody-says-lawyer|title='Gory, botched': Alabama's aborted execution of inmate was bloody, says lawyer|agency=Reuters|date=February 26, 2018|website=the Guardian|language=en|access-date=May 4, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theintercept.com/2018/03/03/doyle-hamm-alabama-execution-lethal-injection/|title=Another Failed Execution: the Torture of Doyle Lee Hamm|last=Segura|first=Liliana|date=March 3, 2018|website=The Intercept|language=en-US|access-date=August 9, 2019}}</ref> * In Florida, [[Jesse Tafero|Jesse Joseph Tafero]] had flames burst from his hair during an electrocution.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/some-examples-post-furman-botched-executions|title=Botched Executions {{!}} Death Penalty Information Center|website=deathpenaltyinfo.org|language=en|access-date=May 4, 2018}}</ref> * [[Wallace Wilkerson]] died after 27 minutes in pain after the [[Execution by firing squad|firing squad]] failed to shoot him in the heart.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Acker|first=James A.|last2=Champagne|first2=Ryan|date=May 2, 2018|title=The Execution of Wallace Wilkerson: Precedent and Portent|journal=Criminal Justice Review|volume=42|pages=349–367|doi=10.1177/0734016817702193}}</ref> Because of this, the constitutionality of the use of the firing squad was questioned. The [[Supreme Court of the United States]] affirmed that the firing squad did not violate the Eighth Amendment in the case [[Wilkerson v. Utah|''Wilkerson v. Utah'' (1879)]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/99/130|title=WILKERSON v. UTAH.|website=LII / Legal Information Institute|language=en|access-date=May 4, 2018}}</ref> * In New Mexico, [[Tom Ketchum|Thomas Ketchum]] was decapitated when his body fell through the trap door during his hanging.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/thomas-e-ketchum|title=Thomas E. Ketchum|last=yongli|date=September 21, 2016|website=coloradoencyclopedia.org|language=en|access-date=May 4, 2018}}</ref> * In Mississippi, [[Jimmy Lee Gray]] died after being in the gas chamber for nine minutes. During the procedure, Gray thrashed and banged his head against the metal pole behind his head while struggling to breathe.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/Gray.pdf |title=Capital punishment UK |website=www.capitalpunishmentuk.org }}</ref> [[Austin Sarat]], a professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, in his book ''Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America’s Death Penalty'', found that from 1890 to 2010, 276 executions were botched out of a total of 8,776, or 3.15%, with lethal injections having the highest rate. Sarat writes that between 1980 and 2010 the rate of botched executions was higher than ever: 8.53 percent.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/some-examples-post-furman-botched-executions |title=Botched Executions &#124; Death Penalty Information Center |work=Deathpenaltyinfo.org |date= |accessdate=March 3, 2019}}</ref> ==Clemency and commutations== The largest number of clemencies was granted in January 2003 in [[Illinois]] when outgoing [[Governor]] [[George Ryan]], who had already imposed a moratorium on executions, pardoned four death-row inmates and commuted the sentences of the remaining 167 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/node/677 |title=Illinois Death Row Inmates Granted Commutation by Governor George Ryan on January 12, 2003 |publisher=Deathpenaltyinfo.org |accessdate=December 1, 2011}}</ref> When Governor [[Pat Quinn (politician)|Pat Quinn]] signed legislation abolishing the death penalty in Illinois in March 2011, he commuted the sentences of the fifteen inmates on death row to [[life imprisonment]].<ref name="QuinnSignsAbolition">{{cite news|url=http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2011/03/quinn-signs-death-penalty-ban-commutes-15-death-row-sentences-to-life.html|title=Quinn signs death penalty ban, commutes 15 death row sentences to life|date=March 9, 2011|accessdate=March 9, 2011|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]}}</ref> Previous post-''Furman'' mass clemencies took place in 1986 in [[New Mexico]], when Governor [[Toney Anaya]] commuted all death sentences because of his personal opposition to the death penalty. In 1991, outgoing [[Ohio]] Governor [[Dick Celeste]] commuted the sentences of eight prisoners, among them all four women on the state's death row. And during his two terms (1979–1987) as [[Florida]]'s Governor, [[Bob Graham]], although a strong death penalty supporter who had overseen the first post-''Furman'' involuntary execution as well as 15 others, agreed to commute the sentences of six people on the grounds of doubts about guilt or disproportionality. ==Moratorium on executions== [[File:Death penalty in the United States with hiatuses.svg|thumb|250px|{{legend|#4daf4a|Capital punishment repealed or struck down as unconstitutional}}{{legend|#377eb8|Capital punishment in statute, but executions formally suspended}}{{legend|#ffff33|Capital punishment in statute, but no recent executions}}{{legend|#984ea3|Capital punishment in statute, other unique circumstances apply}}{{legend|#e41a1c|Executions recently carried out}}]] All executions were suspended through the country between September 2007 and April 2008. At that time, the U.S. Supreme Court was examining the constitutionality of lethal injection in ''[[Baze v. Rees]]''. This was the longest period with no executions in the United States since 1982. The Supreme Court ultimately upheld this method in a 7–2 ruling. In addition to the states that have no valid death penalty statute, the following 13 states and 2 jurisdictions are noted that have an official [[moratorium (law)|moratorium]], or have had no executions for more than ten years, as of {{CURRENTYEAR}}: {| class="wikitable" |- !scope="col" | State / Jurisdiction !scope="col" | Status !scope="col" | Moratorium status<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/california-moves-slowly-toward-resuming-executions/|title = California moves – slowly – toward resuming executions|accessdate = May 25, 2017|website = seattletimes.com |quote= California has long been what one expert calls a "symbolic death penalty state", one of 12 that has capital punishment on the books, but has not executed anyone in more than a decade. |last = |first = |date = April 23, 2017}}</ref> |- |{{yes-no|[[Capital punishment by the United States military|Military]]}} |{{yes-no|''de facto''}} |{{yes-no|No executions since 1961}} |- |{{yes-no|[[Capital punishment in American Samoa|American Samoa]]}} |{{yes-no|''de facto''}} |{{yes-no|No method of execution defined by law. No executions since gaining self-governance in 1949.}} |- |{{yes|[[Capital punishment in Arizona|Arizona]]}} |{{yes|by Attorney General}} |{{yes|In 2014, Attorney General indefinitely stayed executions}} |- |{{yes|[[Capital punishment in California|California]]}} |{{yes|by Governor}} |{{yes|In 2019, Governor [[Gavin Newsom]] set a moratorium}}<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-governor-gavin-newsom-death-penalty-moratorium-20190312-story.html |title = Gov. Gavin Newsom to block California death row executions, close San Quentin execution chamber}}</ref> |- |{{optional|[[Capital punishment in Indiana|Indiana]]}} |{{optional|''de facto''}} |{{optional|No executions since 2009 (excluding federal executions at [[Terre Haute]])}} |- |{{free|[[Capital punishment in Kansas|Kansas]]}} |{{free|''de facto''}} |{{free| Kansas has had no executions since 1965. Kansas restored the death penalty in 1994 but no current death row inmates have exhausted their appeal processes.}} |- |{{yes|[[Capital punishment in Kentucky|Kentucky]]}} |{{yes|by court order}} |{{yes|In 2009, a judge suspended executions pending a new protocol}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Kentucky Judge Rules Against Lethal Injection Protocol and Halts Execution|url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/kentucky-judge-rules-against-lethal-injection-protocol-and-halts-execution|website=Death Penalty Information Center|publisher=Death Penalty Information Center|accessdate=July 11, 2016}}</ref> |- |{{yes-no|[[Capital punishment in Louisiana|Louisiana]]}} |{{yes-no|''de facto''}} |{{yes-no|No executions since 2010}} (no involuntary executions since 2002) |- |{{yes|[[Capital punishment in Montana|Montana]]}} |{{yes|by court order}} |{{yes|In 2015, a judge ruled the state's lethal injection protocol is unlawful, stopping executions}}<ref>{{cite web|last1=Bellware|first1=Kim|title=Montana Judge Strikes Down State's Lethal Injection Protocol|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/montana-death-penalty-moratorium_us_56143b33e4b021e856d2bdd9|website=The Huffington Post|accessdate=July 11, 2016|date=October 6, 2015}}</ref> |- |{{yes-no|[[Capital punishment in Nevada|Nevada]]}} |{{yes-no|''de facto''}} |{{yes-no|No executions since 2006}} |- |{{yes|[[Capital punishment in North Carolina|North Carolina]]}} |{{yes|by implementers}} |{{yes|Executions are suspended following a decision by the state's medical board that physicians cannot participate in executions, which is a requirement under state law.}} |- |{{yes|[[Capital punishment in Oregon|Oregon]]}} |{{yes|by Governor}} |{{yes|In 2011, Governor announced a moratorium and a review}} |- |{{yes|[[Capital punishment in Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania]]}} |{{yes|by Governor}} |{{yes|In 2015, Governor announced a moratorium pending review}} |- |{{yes-no|[[Capital punishment in Utah|Utah]]}} |{{yes-no|''de facto''}} |{{yes-no|No executions since 2010}} |- |{{yes-no|[[Capital punishment in Wyoming|Wyoming]]}} |{{yes-no|''de facto''}} |{{yes-no|No executions since 1992}} |} Since 1976, four states have executed only condemned prisoners who voluntarily waived further appeals: Pennsylvania has executed three inmates, Oregon two, Connecticut one, and New Mexico one. In the latter state, Governor [[Toney Anaya]] commuted the sentences of all five condemned prisoners on death row in late 1986.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/11/27/5-death-sentences-commuted/1a7c7cf6-215a-40aa-9d29-8db8f5b40c12/ 5 Death Sentences Commuted], ''[[The Washington Post]]'', November 27, 1986. Retrieved March 24, 2020.</ref> In [[California]], [[United States District Judge]] [[Jeremy Fogel]] suspended all executions in the state on December 15, 2006, ruling that the implementation used in California was unconstitutional but that it could be fixed.<ref>[https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061215/ap_on_re_us/california_death_penalty Judge says executions unconstitutional] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061222152731/http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061215/ap_on_re_us/california_death_penalty |date=December 22, 2006 }}</ref> California Governor [[Gavin Newsom]] declared an indefinite moratorium on March 13, 2019.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Miller |first1=Hayley |title=Gov. Gavin Newsom Halts Executions In California, Calls Death Penalty 'A Failure' |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gavin-newsom-death-penalty-california_n_5c88e410e4b038892f4900cc |accessdate=March 13, 2019 |work=Huffington Post |date=March 13, 2019}}</ref> On November 25, 2009, the [[Kentucky Supreme Court]] affirmed a decision by the Franklin County Circuit Court suspending executions until the state adopts regulations for carrying out the penalty by lethal injection.<ref>{{cite web|last=Musgrave |first=Beth |url=http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/story/1035605.html |title=Decision halts lethal injections &#124; Latest Local, State News |publisher=Kentucky.com |date=November 26, 2009 |accessdate=December 1, 2011}}</ref> In November 2011, [[Oregon]] Governor [[John Kitzhaber]] announced a moratorium on executions in Oregon, canceling a planned execution and ordering a review of the death penalty system in the state.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2011/11/gov_john_kitzhaber_stops_all_e.html|title=Gov. John Kitzhaber stops executions in Oregon, calls system 'compromised and inequitable'|newspaper=[[The Oregonian]]|last=Jung|first=Helen|date=November 22, 2011|accessdate=November 22, 2011}}</ref> On February 13, 2015, Pennsylvania Governor [[Tom Wolf (politician)|Tom Wolf]] announced a moratorium on the death penalty. Wolf will issue a reprieve for every execution until a commission on capital punishment, which was established in 2011 by the [[Pennsylvania State Senate]], produces a recommendation.<ref>{{cite news|title=Pennsylvania's governor suspends the death penalty|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/02/13/pennsylvania-suspends-the-death-penalty/|website=The Washington Post|accessdate=February 15, 2015|first=Mark|last=Berman|date=February 13, 2015}}</ref> Effectively there was a moratorium in place, as the state had not executed anyone since [[Gary M. Heidnik]] in 1999. On July 25, 2019, U.S. Attorney General [[William Barr]] announced that the federal government would resume executions using pentobarbital, rather than the three-drug cocktail previously used. Five convicted death row inmates were scheduled to be executed in December 2019 and January 2020.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/federal-government-resume-capital-punishment-after-nearly-two-decade-lapse|title=Federal Government to Resume Capital Punishment After Nearly Two Decade Lapse|date=July 25, 2019|work=The United States Department of Justice|access-date=July 26, 2019}}</ref> On November 20, 2019, U.S. District Judge [[Tanya S. Chutkan]] issued a preliminary injunction preventing the resumption of federal executions. Plaintiffs in the case argued that the use of pentobarbital may violate the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2019/11/21/781537038/judge-blocks-justice-departments-plan-to-resume-federal-executions|title=Judge Blocks Justice Department's Plan To Resume Federal Executions|website=NPR.org|language=en|access-date=November 21, 2019}}</ref> The stay was lifted in June 2020 and four executions were rescheduled for July and August 2020.<ref name="federal-executions-2020"/> On July 14, 2020, [[Daniel Lewis Lee]] was executed. He became the first convict executed by the federal government since 2003.<ref name="LewisLeeExecution"/> ==See also== * [[Capital punishment debate in the United States]] * [[Capital punishment by the United States federal government]] * [[Capital punishment by the United States military]] * [[Capital punishment for juveniles in the United States]] * [[List of United States Supreme Court decisions on capital punishment]] * [[List of offenders scheduled to be executed in the United States]] * [[List of offenders executed in the United States in {{CURRENTYEAR}}]] * [[Lists of people executed in the United States]] * [[List of death row inmates in the United States]] * [[List of last executions in the United States by crime]] ==References== {{reflist|colwidth=30em}} ===Sources=== * Marian J. Borg and Michael L. Radelet. (2004). On botched executions. In: Peter Hodgkinson and William A. Schabas (eds.) Capital Punishment. pp.&nbsp;143–168. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{doi|10.1017/CBO9780511489273.006}}. * Gail A. Van Norman. (2010). Physician participation in executions. In: Gail A. Van Norman et al. (eds.) Clinical Ethics in Anesthesiology. pp.&nbsp;285–291. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{doi|10.1017/CBO9780511841361.051}}. ==Further reading== ===Books=== * Bakken, Gordon Morris, ed. (2010). ''Invitation to an Execution: A History of the Death Penalty in the United States''. University of New Mexico Press. * Banner, Stuart (2002). ''[http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674010833 The Death Penalty: An American History]''. Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|0-674-00751-4}}. * Bessler, John D. (2012). ''Cruel and Unusual: The American Death Penalty and the Founders' Eighth Amendment''. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press. * Blecker, Robert (2013). ''The Death of Punishment: Searching for Justice among the Worst of the Worst''. St. Martin's Press. * Delfino, Michelangelo and Mary E. Day. (2007). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=xJ8bZFKoe1cC Death Penalty USA 2005–2006]'' MoBeta Publishing, Tampa, Florida. {{ISBN|978-0-9725141-2-5}}; and ''Death Penalty USA 2003–2004'' (2008). MoBeta Publishing, Tampa, Florida. {{ISBN|978-0-9725141-3-2}}. * Dow, David R., Dow, Mark (eds.) (2002). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=NiXm_7mA9VQC Machinery of Death: The Reality of America's Death Penalty Regime]''. Routledge, New York. {{ISBN|0-415-93266-1}} (cloth). {{ISBN|0-415-93267-X}} (paperback) (Provides critical perspectives on the death penalty). * Garland, David (2010). ''[http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674066106 Peculiar Institution: America's Death Penalty in an Age of Abolition]''. Harvard University Press. * Hartnett, Stephen John (2010). ''Executing Democracy, Volume 1: Capital Punishment and the Making of America, 1683–1807''. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press. * Hartnett, Stephen John (2012). ''Executing Democracy, Volume 2: Capital Punishment and the Making of America, 1635–1843''. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press. * Lane, Charles (2010). ''Stay of Execution: Saving the Death Penalty from Itself''. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. * Megivern, James J. (1997). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=lG-a_RBO8VgC The Death Penalty: An Historical and Theological Survey]''. Paulist Press, New York. {{ISBN|0-8091-0487-3}}. * Osler, Mark William (2009). ''[[Jesus]] on Death Row: The Trial of Jesus and American Capital Punishment''. Abingdon Press. {{ISBN|978-0-687-64756-9}}. * {{cite book |title=Rough Justice. Lynching and American Society, 1874–1947 |first=Michael J. |last=Pfeiffer |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0252029172 |quote=The history of lynching and the history of the death penalty in the United States are hopelessly entangled (p. 152).}} * [[Helen Prejean|Prejean, Helen]] (1993). ''[[Dead Man Walking (book)|Dead Man Walking]]''. Random House. {{ISBN|0-679-75131-9}} (paperback)<br />(Describes the case of death row convict [[Elmo Patrick Sonnier]], while also giving a general overview of issues connected to the death penalty) ===Journal articles=== * Vidma, Neil and Phoebe Ellsworth. "[http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1463&context=faculty_scholarship Public Opinion and the Death Penalty]" ([https://web.archive.org/web/20141220001053/http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1463&context=faculty_scholarship Archive]). ''[[Stanford Law Review]]''. June 1974. Volume 26, pp.&nbsp;1245–1270. * Hoffmann, Joseph L. (2005). "Protecting the Innocent: The Massachusetts Governor's Council Report". 95 [http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7187&context=jclc ''J. of Crim. L. & Criminology''] 561. ==External links== *[http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org Death Penalty Information Center] {{Capital punishment}} {{CapPun-US}} {{Social Policy in the United States|state=autocollapse}} {{United States topics}} {{North America topic|Capital punishment in}} {{Portal bar|United States|Law}} {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Capital punishment in the United States}} [[Category:Capital punishment in the United States| ]] [[Category:Crime in the United States]] [[Category:United States law]]'