NCJ Number
79612
Journal
Criminal Justice Abstracts Volume: 13 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1981) Pages: 283-311
Date Published
1981
Length
29 pages
Annotation
The use and interpretation of capital punishment law in the United States are discussed.
Abstract
The first State-imposed execution was in 1864, beginning a trend away from executions under civil or local authority. An estimate of legal executions since 1900 puts the figure at over 7,000. Only a small fraction of criminal homicides have resulted in execution (about 2 percent since 1930). Over 54 percent of executed offenders have been black or other minority group members. A total of 455 persons have been executed for rape, 89.5 percent of them nonwhites. Among the over 5,700 persons executed under State authority since 1864, blacks have been executed for less serious crimes, at younger ages, and more often without appeals. This discriminatory treatment has been most evident in periods of the widest use of capital punishment. From 1900, the number of executions increased through the 1930's, reaching a peak of over 1,500 executions in that decade. A decline of executions in the 1940's was followed by an even steeper drop in the 1950's and 1960's, with executions ceasing between 1967 and 1977. With public support for the death penalty dropping from 62 percent when it was first tested in 1936 to 38 percent in 1966, the increased unwillingness among judges and juries to impose death setnences and the gradual cessation of executions in the 1960's were in accord with popular sentiment. Abolitionist activity intensified and assumed the form of challenges to the essential legality of the death penalty. The U.S. Supreme Court showed increased concern over potential violations of capital defendants' rights under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; however, the Court also introduced issues of jury bias, racial discrimination, and the death penalty's inherent nature as cruel and unusual punishment. Still, the Court did not rule capital punishment per se unconstitutional. A number of the most significant cases, which reflect upon the landmark 'Furman' ruling in 1972, are reviewed. A total of 112 footnotes are listed. For the second part of the discussion, see NCJ 79613.