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Death Penalty Discussion
Our Community Ridiculous_Quotes Part of his Last Statement moments before the Lethal Cocktail began to flow: "When I die, bury me deep, lay two speakers at my feet, put some headphones on my head and rock and roll me when I'm dead." Douglas Roberts - Texas Random image
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Recent background news on the death penalty Source: http://www.newsbatch.com
After two docotrs refuse to assist a lethal injection in California, debate over end-of-life ethics grows. See story from Christian Science MonitorExactly 229 death-row inmates have been granted clemency since the United States reinstated capital punishment in 1976, and the list of reasons is short. The 16 governors who have given such pardons cited just three reasons: lingering doubt about guilt, a governor's own philosophical opposition to the death penalty, and mental disability of the accused. Starkly absent from the list - notable because of a high-profile clemency request now pending in California - is character reform of the guilty. See story from Christian Science MonitorChina is reevaluating its death penalty policy in the face of increasing international scruting. Human rights groups say China executes far more people than the rest of the world's governments combined. Amnesty International found evidence of 3,400 death sentences carried out in 2004 but says the real number may be closer to 10,000 a year. This compares with 59 in the U.S. in 2004. More than 70 countries use the death penalty, but most apply it only in the case of a few extremely violent crimes. China executes people for 68 offenses, many nonviolent, including smuggling, tax evasion, corruption, "endangering national security" and separatism, which includes advocating Tibetan or Taiwanese independence. See story from Los Angeles TimesIn what may lead to a significant decline in death sentences, Texas has decided to allow jurors in capital cases to choose life without the possibility of parole instead of death when they see fit. See story from Christian Science MonitorU.S. Catholic bishops launched a campaign against the death penalty and presented new data suggesting support for capital punishment among American Catholics had fallen sharply in recent years to below 50 percent. See story from Washington PostThe Supreme Court is considering whether Texas and other states can execute 51 Mexicans who say they were improperly denied legal help from their consulates, a dispute testing the effect of international law in U.S. death penalty cases. See story from Associated PressAmerican researchers have called for an halt to lethal injection, the most common method of capital punishment in the United States, because it is not always a humane and painless way to die as proper sedation procedures are not followed in some cases. See story from ReutersThe United States has withdrawn from an accord that lets an international court decide disputes over foreign inmates, an agreement U.S. death penalty opponents have been using to fight death row cases. See story from ReutersIn a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to execute juvenile killers, ending a practice in 19 states that has been roundly condemned by many of America's closest allies. See story from Washington PostOn issues such as juvenile death penalty, the court considers whether it should weigh international opinion. See story from Christian Science MonitorThe number of U.S. convicts imprisoned with death sentences dropped in 2003 to its lowest level in 30 years, helping to provoke the third straight annual decline in the nation's death row population and signaling the continuation of a slow trend away from state- and federally ordered executions, according to data released by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics. See story from Washington PostThere are 72 individuals currently on death row for crimes committed as juveniles. The US Supreme Court will be ruling on a Missouri death-penalty case that could invalidate every one of their sentences. See story from Christian Science MonitorAfter seven months of debate, an 11-member panel released recommendations they say could give the nation a capital punishment statute "as narrowly tailored, and as infallible, as humanly possible." The proposal departs from many US death penalty statutes by requiring DNA evidence, demanding good legal representation for defendants, and raising prosecutors' burden of proof. Members said they hoped it would be adopted as a model by the federal government, the military, and 38 states that now practice capital punishment, many of which are reconsidering their laws. See story from Christian Science MonitorThe Supreme Court will consider whether its 2002 decision requiring juries to impose death sentences should be imposed retroactively. See story from Christian Science MonitorThe US Supreme Court has taken up a Missouri case to examine the constitutionality of the juvenile death penalty. See story from Christian Science MonitorWhen a Virginia jury voted against a death sentence for Washington- area sniper John Lee Malvo, it followed a national trend away from sentencing juvenile offenders to death. The annual death-sentence rate for juvenile offenses has declined rapidly in recent years and death-penalty opponents say it's only a matter of time before capital punishment for those under 18 is eliminated. See story from Christian Science Monitor
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Highlights of 2009
2008 Year End Death Penalty Statistics
2007 Year End Death Penalty Statistics
Current U.S. Department of Justice Statistics In 2007, 42 persons in 10 States were executed --
26 in Texas; 3 each in Alabama and Oklahoma; 2 each in Indiana, Ohio, and
Tennessee; and 1 each in South Dakota, Georgia, South Carolina, and Arizona. |
