DEATH PENALTY

Death Penalty

Death Penalty

Introduction

The death penalty has become one of the most controversial issues worldwide in the area of criminal justice. More than half the world's nations have banned the use of the death penalty or no longer apply it, even through the death penalty may remain legal. While the death penalty is not banned under international law, the growing international trend is toward limitations in its use. In recent years, and in opposition to this trend, the imposition and use of the death penalty has increased in the United States, a fact that sparked heated debate. Intensifying the debate is the recent use of DNA evidence and other high technology investigative tools, which have resulted in a large number of reversals of death penalty convictions. In January of 2000, Illinois Governor George Ryan declared a moratorium on executions in his state when a thirteenth death penalty conviction was reversed by the state. Illinois has exonerated more death row inmates than it has convicted (Woodworth, 1990).

Particularly controversial is the use of the death penalty to execute juvenile offenders. Few countries authorize the use of the death penalty on juvenile offenders, and among those few, the United States is the only non-third world country to impose this ultimate punishment. Only six nations have executed juvenile offenders in the 1990s: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Nigeria, Yemen and the United States. With six executions in the 1990s, the United States has performed the most executions of juvenile offenders of any nation. Executions of juvenile offenders are even more controversial than the use of the death penalty for adult offenders. Supporters believe that the adage “if you can't do the time, don't do the crime” should apply across the board to all offenders and include all available penalties. Many opine that, if children are sufficiently mature to commit a crime heinous enough to deserve the death penalty, then those children are old enough to be punished for their offense. Opponents of this particular use of the death penalty, in addition to more general arguments against the death penalty, stress that children often lack maturity and have poor judgment. Rehabilitation of child offenders is more likely to be successful than the reform of an adult as their patterns of behavior are less ingrained.

Looking on the 50 states, 34 retain the death penalty. The last state to have abolished is Illinois in March 2011. Capital punishment is available even at the federal level for 42 crimes, including 38 relating to different permutations of homicide, while 4 of them are not related to homicide. Even the Federal Law provides for the military death penalty. Some states have laws that provide for capital punishment for crimes such as treason, espionage, kidnapping, embezzlement and drug trafficking. California provides for the death penalty for sabotage of trains and the false testimony that resulted in an execution. A Louisiana law, enacted in 1995, allows the death sentence for raping a child less than 12 ...