Death Penalty - Research Guide
by Jim Voelker, Deputy Circuit Librarian, St. Louis
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The imposition of the death penalty is one of the most contentious areas of the law. The death penalty goes back to the dawn of civilization. It was a standard punishment for numerous crimes under the early English common law. Over time it became rare and disappeared in Britain (and the rest of Europe) not long after the middle of the 20th Century. It seemed to be fading away in the United States as well, with no executions in the U.S. between 1967 and 1977. The Supreme Court, in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), struck down existing death penalty statutes as cruel and unusual. However, after that states enacted new death penalty statutes to meet the Supreme Court's objections. Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976), ratified the principle that the death penalty was not unconstitutional per se.
More recently the Supreme Court has held that the Eighth Amendment prohibits execution of the mentally retarded, Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002), and juveniles under the age of 18 at the time of their crime, Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. ___ (2005) Docket Number: 03-633.
Currently only twelve states and the District of Columbia do not have death penalty statutes, although in a number of states that do have the death penalty it is imposed extremely rarely. In the 8th Circuit, Iowa, Minnesota, and North Dakota do not have capital punishment statutes. There are currently (August 2005) four inmates sentenced to death in South Dakota, although an execution has not been carried out in the state since executions started up again nationally in 1977. In that time period Missouri (4th nationally after Texas, Virginia, and Oklahoma) has had the most executions in the Circuit with 64, followed by Arkansas with 26 and Nebraska with 3.
Internationally the leading country for capital punishment is China, which carries out thousands of executions each year, more than the rest of the world put together. According to Amnesty International, the top 5 countries by number of executions in 2004 were China (3,400+), Iran (159+), Vietnam (64+), USA (59), and Saudi Arabia (33+).
While usually arising out of state law, death sentences are almost always appealed to the federal courts under habeas corpus.
Statutes
call number |
location |
|
| The Death Penalty: an American History by Stuart Banner | HV8699.U5 B367 2002 | STL, LR |
| Death Penalty Cases: Desk Reference Book by the Staff Attorneys Office, 5th Circuit Court of Appeals | KF9227.C2 U5 | STL, DM, FAR, KC |
| Federal Habeas Practitioner Guide by Brian R. Means | FEDHABPRAC | Westlaw |
| Resource Guide for Managing Capital Cases | MGCAPCASE | Westlaw |
| Death Penalty in a Nutshell by Victor L. Streib | KF9227.C2 S77 2005 | STL, FAR, KC, STP |
| Death Penalty Manual for the Fifth Circuit - hosted by the Fifth Circuit Library | ||
| The Death Penalty on Trial: Crisis in American Justice by Bill Kurtis | HV8699.U5 K87 2004 | STL |
| Recurring issues in federal death penalty cases [videorecording] FJC | KF9227.C2 R42 2000 | STL, KC |
| Ultimate Punishment: a Lawyer's Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty by Scott Turow | KF9227.C2 T87 2003 | STL, FAR |
| Death Row U.S.A. Reporter. 1990-current
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund |
KF9227 .C2 D42 | STL, LR |
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