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Our Dossier

This dossier documents the issue of Capital Punishment in the United States.

Important notice:
We are in the process of rebuilding our dossiers with statements and other documents of the new Administration.

Please use the tabs to access the three sections of this dossier:

Tab 1 lists US facts and figures with regard to the death penalty, major USG statements, latest USG statements, USG fact sheets, and USG reports. 

Tab 2 lists nonofficial reports, journal articles, and other documents.

Tab 3 provides a set of links to major web sites.

If you cannot find what you are looking for, please contact us through email.
 

U.S. Govt. Resources

Department of Justice SealExecutions, 1930-2006 This Department of Justice site gives the evolution of executions in the United States.

Congressional Research ServiceCapital Punishment: An Overview of Federal Death Penalty Statutes. This CRS report describes Capital Punishment at the Federal Level.

 

Department of Justice SealSurvey of the Federal Death Penalty System. This Survey from the US Department of Justice provides information regarding the federal death penalty system since the enactment of the first modern capital punishment statute in 1988.

 

Major Department of Justice Reports on Capital Punishment.

Department of Justice SealCapital Punishment 2005-Statistics. This document from the US Department of Justice gives statistics on executions in 2005.

Department of Justice SealCapital Punishment 2005-Press Release. This document from the US Department of Justice gives an overview of executions in 2005.

 

 

The United States and the Death Penalty: A Dossier

Death penalty opponents gather in front of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2006. Darrell Ferguson was executed after being convicted of three counts of aggravated murder in the Christmas Day 2001 killing of Thomas King, 61, and the deaths the next day of Arlie Fugate, 68, and his wife Mae, 69. Ferguson, 28, the youngest person put to death in Ohio since 1962, had asked for the death penalty and chose not to pursue appeals, which could have delayed his execution for years. (AP Photo/Scott Osborne)
Death penalty opponents gather in front of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2006. (AP Photo/Scott Osborne)

Capital Punishment in the United States

bullet Death Penalty Remains Subject of Debate in United States: In the United States, the death penalty, or capital punishment, may be prescribed by Congress for federal capital crimes and by some states for murder and violent crimes. Arguments in favor of the death penalty in the United States include deterrence and retribution. Opponents say that the risk of executing the innocent should preclude use of the death penalty.

The number of executions in the United States in 2006 dropped to its lowest number in 10 years, in part due to legal challenges resulting in many states reviewing their capital punishment policies and procedures.

Due to concerns over how lethal injections are administered, some states are reviewing the process to ensure that lethal injection does not violate the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment provision against cruel and unusual punishment.

Courts throughout the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court, made a number of rulings during 2006 that have impacted state capital punishment policies.

The court's unanimous June 12, 2006, ruling in Hill v. McDonough determined that inmates can challenge lethal injections as a civil rights issue. However, the judges did not rule on whether this method of execution constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

bullet Death penalty in U.S. Law: The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld use of the death penalty for the most serious crimes provided that its use is in accordance with procedural guarantees of the U.S. Constitution and relevant state constitutions.

bullet Death penalty for juveniles: A closely divided Supreme Court ruled March 1, 2005 that the death penalty cannot be imposed on youthful murderers who were not yet 18 years of age at the time they committed the crimes, ending a practice used in 19 of the U.S. states.

bullet Capital punishment for the mentally ill and the mentally retarded

Mentally retarded: In October 2005, the court upheld the right of individual U.S. states to establish their own guidelines for determining whether a defendant facing the death penalty is mentally retarded and therefore ineligible for execution. The Supreme Court in 2002 abolished the death penalty for mentally retarded offenders and directed states to develop ways to enforce the ban.

Mentally ill: In 1986 the U.S. Supreme Court prohibited the execution of the mentally insane and required an adversarial process for determining mental competency. Legal definitions and concepts of insanity and competency, however, do not always coincide with medical opinion, and as a result controversy continues.

bullet Death penalty and International Law: The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights specifically recognizes the right of countries to impose the death penalty for the most serious crimes, carried out pursuant to a final judgment rendered by a competent court and in accordance with appropriate safeguards and observance of due process.

The United States works assiduously in international fora, including the U.N. Commission on Human Rights and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), against the use of the death penalty without due process, such as for political prisoners detained without fair trial by autocratic governments.

Major US Government Statements

A select list of major statements On the United States and Africa with policy value.

Latest US Government Statements

The five most recent statements in reverse chronological order.

US Government Fact Sheets

The five most recent fact sheets.

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