Death Penalty - Federal

Subscribe to Death Penalty - Federal via RSS

This month, the question is raised once again about what the condemned actually experience when undergoing lethal injection, and whether or not this constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. It appears that the executioners’ perspective on what is taking place and those of the execution witnesses may be far, far different.  Read, “Executioners sanitized accounts …

“We tracked down a broad array of those connected to the event, to present a three-dimensional account of the first federal execution in 17 years.”

That’s how writers Keri Blakiner and Maurice Chammah describe their efforts, as published on July 24, 2020, by The Marshall Project in partnership with Slate Magazine.   Their entire article is…

The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) has quite a lot of interesting information regarding executions in the United States so far this year, including how the Coronavirus Pandemic has impacted capital punishment in the first half of 2020.  Consider the following:

  1. There have been ten (10) executions in 2020.
  2. One execution has been by electrocution

…

Amnesty International has released its compilation of global data on the use of capital punishment around the world, from sentencing to execution.  Read the report, entitled “Death Penalty in 2019: Facts and Figures,” here.

Among the findings from Amnesty International are:

  • during 2019, there were 657 executions in 20 countries;
  • last year saw

…

Capital punishment is available under federal law as well as various state statutes.  For more, read:

Recent news…

The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) has released its annual summary of how the death penalty fared in this country during the preceding year.  The full report is available online here.

Hallmarks from 2019 include the following:

  • New Hampshire became the 21st state to abolish capital punishment.
  • California put all executions on hold.
  • Indiana

…

Should current law apply when an appeals court reviews the evidence of mitigating factors and aggravating conditions in a death penalty case?  What about if the case was tried years – even decades – before the appellate review takes place?  Does the court look at current law, or go back to find the law in…

The Washington Supreme Court has found the death penalty to be unconstitutional because it violates the state constitution, specifically Article 1, Section 14, which states, “[e]xcessive bail shall not be required, excessive fines imposed, nor cruel punishment inflicted.”

State v. Gregory

From the opinion in State v. Gregory, No. 88086-7 (Wash. Oct. 11…