Capital punishment in the United States

Capital punishment in the United States is officially sanctioned by 38 of the 50 states, as well as by the federal government. The overwhelming majority of executions are performed by the states; the federal government maintains the right to use capital punishment (also known as the death penalty) but does so infrequently. Each state practicing capital punishment has different laws regarding its methods, age limits, and crimes which qualify. The United States is second only to the People's Republic of China in the number of death sentences passed.

Distribution of sentences

[[Image:Death penalty statutes in the united states.png|thumb|300px|Death penalty statutes in the United States

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Color Key:

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Blue: No current death penalty statute

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Orange: Death penalty statute declared unconstitutional

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Green: No one executed since 1976

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Red: Has performed execution since 1976

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Within the context of the overall murder rate, the death penalty cannot be said to be widely or routinely used in the United States; in recent years the average has been about one execution for about every 700 murders committed, or 1 execution for about every 325 murder convictions.

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It is noted that the death penalty is sought and applied more often in some jurisdictions, not only between states but within states. A 2004 Cornell University study showed that while 2.5% of murderers convicted nationwide were sentenced to the death penalty, in Nevada 6% were given the death penalty. Texas gave only 2% of murderers the death sentence, less than the national average. Texas, however, executed 40% of those sentenced, which was about 4 times higher than the national average. California had executed only 1% of those sentenced.

Related Topics:
Cornell University - Nevada - Texas - California

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Only 1.4% percent of those executed since 1976 have been women.

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Critics note that African Americans make up 42% of death row inmates while making up only 12% of the general population. (They have made up 34% of those actually executed since 1976.) http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engamr510462003 Conversely, others note that this is lower than the 50% of the total prison population which is African American and that whites are in fact twice as likely as African Americans to receive the death penalty, and are also executed more quickly after sentencing. http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/racism.htm Academic studies indicate that the single greatest predictor of whether a death sentence is given, however, is not the race of the defendant, but the race of the victim. Because most violence is intraracial, this accounts for the statistics with respect to whites on death row. According to a 2003 Amnesty International report, blacks and whites were the victims of murder in almost equal numbers, yet 80 percent of the people executed since 1977 were convicted of murders involving white victims. http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engamr510462003

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