The data show that the use of the death penalty is strongly influenced by racial prejudice. [197] In addition, some opponents argue that it is applied arbitrarily by a criminal justice system that has been found to be biased by the systemic influence of socio-economic, geographic, and gender-specific factors. [208] Another argument in the death penalty debate is cost. [197] [209] In 2007, New Jersey became the first state to impose the death penalty by legislative vote since Gregg v. Georgia,[48] followed by New Mexico in 2009,[49][50] Illinois in 2011,[51] Connecticut in 2012,[52][53] and Maryland in 2013. [54] The repeal was not retroactive, but in New Jersey, Illinois, and Maryland, governors commuted all death sentences after the new law was enacted. [55] In Connecticut, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that the repeal must be retroactive. In New Mexico, the death penalty is still available for certain National Guard members under Title 32 under the State Code of Military Justice (NMSA 20-12) and for capital crimes committed prior to the repeal of the state`s death penalty law. [56] [57] Even though the total number of executions in the United States fell to a 29-year low in 2020, the federal government has stepped up its use of the death penalty. The Trump administration executed 10 prisoners in 2020 and three more in January 2021; As of 2020, the German government carried out a total of three executions since 1976. The death penalty is a controversial issue involving many prominent organizations and individuals.
Amnesty International and other groups oppose the death penalty on moral grounds. Other states that include the death penalty for murder before Gregg v. Georgia include Minnesota in 1911, Vermont in 1964, Iowa and West Virginia in 1965, and North Dakota in 1973. Hawaii abolished the death penalty in 1948 and Alaska in 1957, both before the state was established. Puerto Rico abolished it in 1929 and the District of Columbia in 1981. Arizona and Oregon abolished the death penalty by popular vote in 1916 and 1964, respectively, but both reinstated it a few years later. Arizona reintroduced the death penalty in 1918 and Oregon in 1978. In Oregon, the reinstatement of the death penalty was overturned by the Oregon Supreme Court in 1981, but Oregon voters reinstated the death penalty in 1984. [32] Puerto Rico and Michigan are the only two U.S. jurisdictions that have explicitly prohibited the death penalty in their constitutions: 1952 and 1964, respectively.
In February 2015, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced a moratorium on the death penalty. Wolf will grant a delay to each execution until a commission on the death penalty established by the Pennsylvania Senate in 2011 makes a recommendation. [233] In fact, there was a moratorium because the state had not executed anyone since Gary M. Heidnik in 1999. The United States is one of four developed countries that still practice the death penalty, along with Japan, Singapore and Taiwan. One of the main arguments against the use of the death penalty in the United States is that there is a long history of botched executions. Professor Michael L. Radelet of the University of Colorado at Boulder described a „botched execution“ as one that causes the prisoner to suffer long before he dies. [210] This has led to the argument that the death penalty is in itself a cruel and unusual punishment. Below is a short list of examples of botched executions that took place in the United States. Does California have the death penalty? The death penalty is a legal penalty in the state of California. Between 1778 and 1972, California carried out 709 executions.
In 1972, the California Supreme Court struck down the state`s death penalty law in People vs. Anderson, who was reinstated by voters a few months later. In 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom announced a moratorium on executions in California, affecting 737 inmates on the nation`s longest death row. The last execution in California took place in January 2006 and the number of death row inmates increased by about 100. Traditionally, article 1983 has been of limited use to a state prisoner sentenced to death, as the Supreme Court has ruled that habeas corpus, not article 1983, is the only means by which a state prisoner can challenge his death sentence. [148] In Hill v. 2006. However, in McDonough, the U.S. Supreme Court authorized the use of section 1983 as a means of challenging a state`s method of execution as cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. The theory is that a prisoner who raises such a challenge is not directly attacking his death sentence, but the means by which the sentence is carried out. Therefore, in Hill, the Supreme Court ruled that a prisoner can use section 1983 instead of habeas corpus to bring a lawsuit. But, as the case of Clarence Hill shows, lower federal courts have often refused to hear prosecutions against methods of execution on the grounds that the prisoner filed the lawsuit too late and solely for the purpose of delay.
In addition, the Court`s decision in Baze v. Rees, who maintains a lethal injection method used by many states, has limited the possibility of redress under Article 1983. One study found that at least 34 of the 749 executions took place in the United States. Between 1977 and 2001, or 4.5%, there were „unforeseen problems or delays which, at least arguably, caused unnecessary distress to the prisoner or reflected the flagrant incompetence of the executioner.“ The pace of these „botched executions“ remained constant during this period. [80] A study published in The Lancet in 2005 found that in 43% of cases of lethal injection, the prisoner`s blood level of hypnotics was insufficient to ensure unconsciousness. [81] Nevertheless, the Supreme Court ruled in 2008 (Baze v. Rees), 2015 (Glossip v. Gross) and a third time in 2019 (Bucklew v.
Precythe) that a lethal injection is not cruel and unusual punishment. [82] [83] Support for the death penalty is strongly linked to the view that it is morally justified in some cases. Nine out of ten supporters of the death penalty say it is morally justified for someone to commit a crime such as murder; Only a quarter of those who oppose the death penalty consider it morally justified. Florida is one of 30 states that apply the death penalty. The first execution in Florida took place in 1827. Since 1976, after the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, Florida has executed 99 convicted murderers, including notorious serial killer Ted Bundy on January 24, 1989. On June 14, 2013, Governor Rick Scott signed the Justice in Timely Manner, 2013 Act, which expedites the death penalty process by shortening appeal times for convicted persons. and the obligation to report on the progress of the case. As of November 2020, there were 339 offenders on death row. Annual executions are well below their peak. Nationwide, 17 people were executed in 2020, the lowest number since 1991 and well below the modern peak of 98 in 1999, according to the BJS and the Death Penalty Information Center. The COVID-19 outbreak disrupted judicial proceedings in much of the country in 2020, leading to the postponement of some executions.
One of the remedies proposed by the Public Prosecutor`s Office against arbitrariness is to delegate to the Prosecutor General the prosecution of cases punishable by death. [119] The number of executions (17) in 2020 decreased compared to 2019 (22). The number of death sentences recorded in the United States (18) has almost halved compared to 2019 (35). In the 27 states that still apply the death penalty, lethal injection is by far the most common method. But many pharmaceutical companies refuse to provide the necessary drugs, which has led states to allow deaths that can be far less humane.
