Basic Overview and Definition
Since 1976, 1,438 people in the United States of America have been killed and only a few who have been convicted have been found innocent before being executed. The death penalty is, “... the most severe form of punishment as it requires law enforcement officers to kill the convicted offender” (Duhaime’s Law Dictionary para 1). In the United States, forms of legal execution range from lethal injection to being shot by a firing squad. See the video below to learn more facts about the death penalty. |
The Public Opinion
Support for the death penalty is going down, but it is still legal in most states. In a recent poll, 46% of respondents said they preferred life imprisonment, and 45% thought the death penalty was not implemented fairly. The Catholic Church has an even stronger prohibition against the death penalty. For Catholics, and for many people, the death penalty is murder and in the past forty years it has taken the lives of over 1,400 Americans. Most other nations also consider it murder, and the United States is one of only a few nations that still has a death penalty. |
How The Death Penalty Has Been Limited
There have even been state, national, and international efforts to limit the death penalty. Representatives from the state of Ohio have introduced a bill to end the penalty. In addition, "President Clinton signed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 which restricts review in federal courts by establishing tighter filing deadlines, limiting the time for evidentiary hearings… only allowing a single habeas corpus filing in federal court.” (Death Penalty Information Center - Limiting the Death Penalty para 22 and 23) The United States also joined a resolution called Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights which states that the countries which have not abolished the death penalties should limit the number of offenses on which the penalty can be imposed and also asks the countries who are participating to not impose the penalty on juveniles. |