Question
Social Issues > Death Penalty > Capital Punishment
Support restricting the death penalty
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Background
Capital punishment in the United States is officially sanctioned by 37 of the 50 states, as well as by the federal government and the military. The overwhelming majority of executions are performed by the states; the federal government maintains the legal power to use capital punishment but does so relatively infrequently. The military has the power to execute individuals, but very rarely does so. Each state practicing capital punishment has different laws with huge diversities regarding its methods and crimes which qualify; no state may execute someone for a crime committed before the age of 18. The state of Texas has performed more executions than any other states since the resumption of the death penalty in 1976; prior to that date, Virginia had led the nation.
Capital punishment is a controversial issue in the U.S. with many prominent organizations and individuals participating in the debate. Arguments for and against it are based on moral, practical, religious, and emotional grounds. Advocates of the death penalty argue that it deters crime, improves the community by making sure that convicted criminals do not find their way out onto the streets to offend again, and is cheaper than keeping convicted criminals in high security prison for the rest of their natural lives. Some opponents of the death penalty claim that ""capital punishment cheapens human life and puts government on the same low moral level as criminals who have taken life.""
Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976 there have been 1098 executions in the United States (as of September 24, 2007). There were 53 executions in 2006.
67% of capital convictions are eventually overturned, mainly on procedural grounds of incompetent legal counsel, police or prosecutors who suppressed evidence and judges who gave jurors the wrong instructions. Seven percent of those whose sentences were overturned between 1973 and 1995 have been acquitted. Ten percent were retried and re-sentenced to death. The remainder typically end up with lesser sentences, up to and including life imprisonment.
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Capital punishment is a controversial issue in the U.S. with many prominent organizations and individuals participating in the debate. Arguments for and against it are based on moral, practical, religious, and emotional grounds. Advocates of the death penalty argue that it deters crime, improves the community by making sure that convicted criminals do not find their way out onto the streets to offend again, and is cheaper than keeping convicted criminals in high security prison for the rest of their natural lives. Some opponents of the death penalty claim that ""capital punishment cheapens human life and puts government on the same low moral level as criminals who have taken life.""
Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976 there have been 1098 executions in the United States (as of September 24, 2007). There were 53 executions in 2006.
67% of capital convictions are eventually overturned, mainly on procedural grounds of incompetent legal counsel, police or prosecutors who suppressed evidence and judges who gave jurors the wrong instructions. Seven percent of those whose sentences were overturned between 1973 and 1995 have been acquitted. Ten percent were retried and re-sentenced to death. The remainder typically end up with lesser sentences, up to and including life imprisonment.
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