Capital Punishment in the U.S. Capital Punishment in the United States in the 1

This paper will discuss the recent developments regarding capital punishment in the United States, focusing primarily upon cases and events since 1985. Since the U.S. Supreme Court held that state death penalty statutes can be constitutionally valid in 1976 (Gregg v. Georgia), most states have enacted death penalty statutes. Most of the litigation regarding these statutes has dealt with the technical legal aspects of trial and sentencing procedure; the result has been a very lengthy appeals process where the time period between sentencing and actual execution can exceed a decade. Thus, since 1992 the U.S. Supreme Court has begun to express a certain amount of annoyance towards defendants and their attorneys who file seemingly endless appeals, especially writs of habeas corpus, in the federal courts. State supreme courts have also begun to limit the number of appeals which can be filed in state courts, explaining that defendants should litigate all issues in their initial appeals.

The landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding the constitutionality of the death penalty was Furman v. Georgia (1972). In that decision the Court held that, while the death penalty did not in and of itself violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, the state death penalty statutes were written in such a manner that allowed the imposition of the death penalty in an arbitrary and capricious manner, violating the the cruel and unusual punishment provisi

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jury, regarding the personal characteristics of the victims and the emotional impact of the murders on the victims' families. In the late 1980s, the Supreme Court held that such statements could not be considered by the jury, since the capital sentencing decision should be based upon the "blameworthiness" of the defendant. Decisions concerning the death penalty should be based upon "reason rather than caprice or emotion" (Booth v. Maryland, 1987; South Carolina v. Gathers, 1989). In 1991, however, the Court reversed itself and said that victim impact statements were permissible during the sentencing phase of capital cases (Payne v. Tennessee). Certain defendant characteristics must also be present in order for the death penalty to be imposed. The defendant must be sane at the time of the execution or else the punishment will be cruel and unusual (Ford v. Wainwright, 1986). During the sentencing phase the jury must be informed that mental retardation or a background involving abuse while a child may be considered as mitigating factors (Penry v. Lynaugh, 1989). The defendant must have been at least 16 years old at the time he or she committed the offense. The Supreme Court has said that imposition of the death penalty for cr

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