Chapter 4

A Holdout on Capital Punishment


The death penalty is the ultimate punishment for those convicted of crimes—it cannot be reversed once carried out, and it effectively trumps the exercise of all other rights. And yet capital punishment remains a staple of the American criminal justice system, sustained by public opinion polls which have long shown a clear majority of Americans in its favor. An ABC News survey in July 2006 found 65 percent in favor of capital punishment, consistent with many other polls taken in recent years. Moreover, according to a Gallup poll from two months earlier, nearly half the American public thinks the death penalty isn’t imposed frequently enough, and fully 60 percent believe it is applied fairly in its current form. Since 1976, the Supreme Court has consistently held that with proper safeguards, the application of the death penalty to competent adults does not violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishment.”

What may seem surprising to many is the degree to which Americans’ support for the death penalty defies worldwide trends which have moved consistently in the opposite direction since World War II. By 1977, 16 countries had become “abolitionist” regarding the death penalty; by 2006, 89 countries worldwide had abolished capital punishment for all offenses, including all but one European country (Belarus is the exception), many Pacific area states (including Australia and New Zealand), and Canada. In 2005, just 25 countries carried out executions, with the United States ranking sixth (53 executions), behind only China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, and the Sudan. To a nation that prides itself as a beacon of light for freedom, this seems like unusual company. And yet the movement to abolish the death penalty in the United States has not made much headway in recent years. Supporters of capital punishment argue that it deters crime and prevents recidivism. Opponents counter that it does not deter criminals more than life imprisonment, risks the execution of the wrongfully convicted, and discriminates against minorities.

Below, consult the various links that help place the current debate over the death penalty into historical, popular, and global perspectives.