This article discusses the current status of death penalty in USA, including the number of states that have abolished it, the proportion of supporters, and the crimes for which it is allowed. It also covers the different methods of execution used in different states, as well as landmark court cases related to death penalty.
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Surname1 Student’s Name Professor’s Name Course Name Date Current Status of Death Penalty in USA At present, 18 US states and the federal capital Washington have abolished the death penalty. It is predicted that most states may abolish death penalty in future. It appears that the proportion of supporters of the death penalty (60%) is at its lowest level since 1972, according to a Gallup study published in October (Jones nd.). The death penalty as a whole is allowed for crimes such as murder or murder committed in the process of a felony, and, as a rule, if there were aggravating circumstances when committing a crime, for example, if there were several victims, if the victim was raped or if the murder was committed.The death penalty is allowed for certain elements of crimes not related to murder, for example, for sexual assault on a child.In some states such as Louisiana and Florida death penalty for sexual assault on a child is allowed (Neubauer and Henry 57). How death penalty is done While the methods of execution are different from state to state, they include a lethal injection, an electric chair, a gas chamber, hanging and shooting. The most widely used method is lethal injection, which is the only possible or one of the possible methods of execution in all states except the state of Nebraska. In Nebraska, the only possible way to bring the death penalty to execution is the electric chair. In 2006, 52 prisoners were executed through the introduction of
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Surname2 a lethal injection, and one sentenced was executed in an electric chair. All 26 executions in the United States since January 2007 have been carried out through the introduction of a lethal injection (Neubauer and Henry 73). Landmark court cases on death penalty There are a number of court cases that have been passed in relation to death penalty.On June 12, 2006, in the case ofHillv. McDonough, the United States Supreme Court ruled that sentenced persons could exercise their civil rights and challenge the use of lethal injection as a way of carrying out the death penalty. In the case ofRoperv. Simmons, the Supreme Court ruled that the execution of minors was a cruel and unusual punishment, a prohibition of which was contained in the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution.The court established the existence in society of a common opinion that such executions are a disproportionate punishment for minors, whom society considers as unconditionally less guilty than adult criminals. In relation toFord v. Wainwright, 477 US 399 (1986), the US Supreme Court ruled that the execution of mentally ill people - persons who do not realize the impending punishment or do not understand its causes - is contrary to the provisions of the US Constitution (Sprigman,15). In relation toAtkins v. Virginia, 536 US (2002), it was ruled that use of the death penalty for mentally retarded persons is contrary to the Constitution. Lastly, Supreme Court has also ruled against excessive sanctions (Latzer and David 181). In "Weems v. United States", in 1910, it was established that that a punishment of twelve years of forced labor imprisoned with fetters for the crime of falsification of records was excessive.
Surname3 Works Cited Jones Jeffrey M. U.S. Death Penalty Support Lowest Since 1972. 26/10/2017. Web. 7/20/18 Latzer, Barry, and David M. McCord.Death Penalty Cases: Leading U.s. Supreme Court Cases on Capital Punishment. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2011. Internet resource. Neubauer, David W, and Henry F. Fradella.America's Courts and the Criminal Justice System. , 2017. Print. Sprigman, Christopher J. The Indigo Book., 2017. Print.