CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN THE UNITED STATES

Capital Punishment in the United States

Capital Punishment in the United States

Introduction

Capital punishment is legal in 38 American states and for the federal government. Approved methods of execution include death by firing squad, electrocution, poison gas, hanging and lethal injection; the last is the most common method since it was first introduced in Oklahoma in 1977. The United States remains the only 'developed' country to use capital punishment and one of the few nations--along with Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Yemen--that still execute juveniles. In April 1999 the United Nations Human Rights Commission voted in favour of the Resolution Supporting Worldwide Moratorium on Executions, which called for countries that had not abolished the death penalty to restrict its use (including not executing juveniles and limiting the number of capital offences). The United States was one of only ten countries--including China, Pakistan, Rwanda and Sudan--to vote against.

Main Body

However, despite its unusual position in both allowing and carrying out the executions of convicted criminals, America's status as a death penalty oddity requires qualification. American implementation of capital punishment is--relative to the volume of death row inmates--rare. As noted above and detailed in Table 2, in 1999 over 3,000 prisoners were held on death rows throughout America, but 'only' 98 executions occurred during that year. Moreover, as Table 3 shows, implementation is geographically concentrated. Most executions occur in five southern states: Texas, Florida, Georgia, Virginia and Louisiana. (By July 1999 Texas had carried out its 178th execution since 1976.)

For millions of Americans, imposing the death penalty remains justified exclusively on retributive grounds, as an expression of collective outrage--even if its deterrent effects are non-existent and alternative punishment methods exist that effectively guarantee that offenders will not threaten again: 'Some crimes deserve death, and nothing else will quench our righteous anger, or vindicate our humanity, or inspire sufficiently profound respect or reverential fear of the law and the underlying moral order. Serving justice at times demands imposing the ultimate sanction.' (Reynolds, 2008)

Moreover, most constitutional commentators hold that the federal constitution allows (but does not require) capital punishment. The 5th and 14th Amendments permit 'deprivation of life', provided that this occurs according to 'due process' of law. Although the 8th Amendment prohibits 'cruel and unusual punishments', this was meant to prevent barbaric punishments (such as crucifixion or burning at the stake) rather than capital punishment per se--to restrict the methods of implementation rather than to outlaw the principle. (Reynolds,2008)

Present-day academic controversy centres upon how far current generations of Americans should abide by such a strict textual reading. For some progressives, the death penalty represents the exemplar of the 'living constitution' notion. Practices once seen as unexceptional are now viewed as uncivilised. This suggests that what constitutes 'cruel and unusual' punishment is inherently a matter for courts to discern according to changing public opinion. Indeed, the Founding Fathers appeared aware of changing public sentiment by authoring a clause that is inherently ambiguous in ...