Political & Social Issues
Death Penalty in the U.S.
Overview
Under the judicial system of the United States, most serious crimes, such as murder, are tried by individual states. Thirty-six of the fifty states in the United States have the death penalty for the most brutal and callous crimes, though only ten of the states carried out the death penalty in 2007. Twelve states do not use capital punishment. In those states that can impose the death penalty, it is to be applied only after rigorous adherence to strict rules of substance and procedure – rules that are constantly assessed and reassessed by the courts – and only after open and fair trials and conviction by juries upon findings of guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The federal government has also employed capital punishment for certain federal offenses.
While international law limits capital punishment to the most serious crimes and requires certain safeguards, most notably due process of law, international law does not prohibit capital punishment. In the United States, the Supreme Court has strictly limited the application of the death penalty.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the death penalty does not violate the Constitution, as long as the requirements of due process and equal protection under the law are followed. Every death sentence in thirty-seven of the states with the death penalty is automatically reviewed by a court of appeals. In the thirty-eighth state, the defendant has the right to waive a review. The federal death penalty procedures do not provide for automatic review. In 2005, the Supreme Court banned execution of juvenile offenders and in 2002, the Supreme Court banned the execution of mentally retarded criminals as constituting “cruel and unusual” punishment prohibited by the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court prohibited the execution of the mentally insane. The Supreme Court has ruled that the imposition of the death penalty on offenders under the age of 16 violates the 8th Amendment of the Constitution.
An October 2006 Gallup poll found that sixty-five percent of Americans support the death penalty, the lowest level since 1978. The imposition of the death penalty continues to be the subject of vigorous discussion and controversy among the American public.
