death penalty: an overview

The death penalty, or capital punishment, may be prescribed by Congress or any state legislature for murder and other capital crimes. The Supreme Court has ruled that the death penalty is not a per se violation of the Eighth Amendment's (http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html#amendmentviii) ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Furthermore, the Sixth Amendment (http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html#amendmentvi) does not require a jury trial on the sentencing issue of life or death. Not all states provide for the death penalty.

In the landmark case, Coker v. Georgia (http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct-cgi/get-us-cite/433+584), 433 U.S. 584 (1977), the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty is a grossly disproportionate punishment for the crime of rape of an adult woman. The Court came to this conclusion by considering objective indicia of the nation's attitude toward the death penalty in rape cases. At the time, only a few states allowed for executions of convicted rapists.

More recently, in Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002) (http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/00-8452.ZS.html), the Supreme Court used the same line of reasoning to rule that executions of mentally retarded criminals are "cruel and unusual punishments" which are prohibited by the Eighth Amendment (http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html#amendmentviii).

In Roper v. Simmons (http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-633.ZS.html) (03-633) (2005), the Supreme Court invalidated the death penalty for all juvenile offenders. The majority opinion pointed to teenagers' lack of maturity and responsibility, greater vulnerability to negative influences, and incomplete character development, concluding that juvenile offenders assume diminished culpability for their crimes.

The Supreme Court has established that for death penalty sentencing the sentencer's discretion be narrowly guided as to the circumstances that justify imposing the death penalty and that the sentencing process should be individualized. In Ring v. Arizona (http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/01-488.ZS.html), the Supreme Court ruled that a jury, rather than a judge, must make a finding of "aggravating factors" where those factors underlie a judge's choice to impose the death penalty rather than a lesser punishment.

For more details see the Cornell Law School Death Penalty Project (http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/lawlibrary/death/index.html).

menu of sources

Federal Material

Federal Constitution and Statutes

• U.S. Constitution: Eighth Amendment - Cruel and Unusual Punishment (http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html#amendmentviii)
• U.S. Code: 18 U.S.C.

Federal Judicial Decisions

• U.S. Supreme Court:
  • Historic Supreme Court Death Penalty Decisions (http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/search/index.html?query=capitalANDpunishment&scope=onlyhistoric)
  • Recent Supreme Court Death Penalty Decisions (http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/search/index.html?query=(death+and+penalty)+or+(capital+and+punishment))
• U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals: recent decisions on the death penalty (http://www.law.cornell.edu/usca/search/index.html?query=%2Bdeath%20%2Bpenalty)

State Material

State Statutes

• State Criminal Codes (http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/state_statutes2.html#criminal_code)

State Judicial Decisions

• N.Y. Court of Appeals:
  • Recent death penalty decisions (http://www.law.cornell.edu/nyctap/search/index.html?query=capital+and+punishment+not+liibulletin)
  • Commentary from liibulletin-ny (http://www.law.cornell.edu/nyctap/search/index.html?query=liibulletin+and+((capital+and+punishment)+or+(death+and+penalty)))
• Appellate Decisions from Other States (http://www.law.cornell.edu/states/)

Other References

Key Internet Sources

• Cornell Law School Death Penalty Project (http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/lawlibrary/death/index.html)
• Death Penalty Information Center (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/)
• Southern Center for Human Rights (http://www.schr.org/)
• Anti Death Penalty
  • ACLU (http://www.aclu.org/issues/death/hmdp.html)
  • Amnesty International (http://www.web.amnesty.org/rmp/dplibrary.nsf/index?openview)
  • National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (http://www.ncadp.org/)
• Pro Death Penalty
  • Pro-Death Penalty (http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/)
  • Justice For All (http://www.jfa.net/)
  • Pro-Death Penalty Web page (http://www.wesleylowe.com/cp.html)
• Links of Interest
  • Execution of mentally ill (http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/links/dplinks.htm#ill)
  • Juveniles & the Death Penalty (http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/links/dplinks.htm#juv)
  • Legal issues (http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/links/dplinks.htm#issues)
  • Race & Class Bias (http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/links/dplinks.htm#race)
  • women & The death penalty (http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/links/dplinks.htm#wom)
• On-line Books & Papers
  • David Anderson, The Death Penalty - A Defence (http://w1.155.telia.com/~u15525046/ny_sida_1.htm)
  • Death Penalty Paper (http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/DP.html)
• Death penalty links (http://www.web.amnesty.org/web/links.nsf?OpenDatabase&Start=1&Count=300&Expand=5)
• Death Penalty Links by Topic (http://www.derechos.org/dp/#law)
• 1000+ death penalty links (http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/links/dplinks.htm)

Other Topics

Category: Criminal Justice