An Overview of the Current Status of the Death Penalty in the USA

This essay examines the current status of the death penalty in the United States, where several states have abolished it and public support is declining. It highlights that the death penalty is generally reserved for severe crimes like murder with aggravating circumstances, though some states allow it for offenses such as child sexual assault. The primary method of execution is lethal injection, although other methods like the electric chair are still in use in some states. Landmark Supreme Court cases, including Hill v. McDonough, Roper v. Simmons, Ford v. Wainwright, and Atkins v. Virginia, have shaped the application of the death penalty, particularly concerning lethal injection challenges, the execution of minors and mentally ill or retarded individuals, and excessive sanctions. Desklib offers this essay and many other resources to aid students in their studies.

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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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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 of Hill v. 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 of Roper v. 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 to Ford 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 to Atkins 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.

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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.