Overview of the Death Penalty and Capital Trials: History, Current Status, Legal Procedures, and Cost

• NCJ Number: 152516
• Journal: Journal of Social Issues Volume: 50 Issue: 2 Dated: special issue (Summer 1994) Pages: 1-18
• Author(s): M Costanzo; L T White
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 18 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Historical Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Because capital punishment will continue to be a prominent public and media issue, the authors present a brief history of the death penalty in the United States and describe the American system of capital jurisprudence.

Abstract

The first documented execution in the United States occurred in 1608. Early capital crimes identified by the colonies varied, and the later movement to abolish the death penalty was slow and erratic. In 1794, Pennsylvania restricted use of the death penalty to first degree murder and became the first State to ban public executions in 1834. Michigan eliminated capital punishment for all crimes except treason in 1846, and Rhode Island and Wisconsin became the first two States to eliminate capital punishment for all crimes in 1852 and 1853, respectively. Most States that experimented with abolishing the death penalty, however, later reinstated it. At the present time, 37 States and the Federal Government have statutes authorizing capital punishment. Throughout U.S. history, the number of death sentences and executions has always been small compared to the number of murders. Further, the evolution of capital punishment in the United States has been marked by four trends: (1) dramatic reduction in the number and type of crimes punishable by death; (2) attempt to reduce the cruelty of executions by replacing one execution technology with another; (3) efforts by policymakers to ensure that death sentences are imposed fairly and rationally; and (4) execution sanitization (limiting the number of observers). More than 2,800 convicted prisoners are on death row throughout the United States, and roughly 250 people are added to death row each year. Procedures that characterize capital jurisprudence in the United States are described, high financial costs of the death penalty are discussed, and the need to streamline capital sentencing trials is noted. 46 references and 2 figures