Death penalty: Which states use it, which don't and how it's changed over time | Just the FAQs

The death penalty has been used in the U.S. since 1608. But various Supreme Court rulings have limited its use. Here's why it's controversial.

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear a government appeal to reinstate the death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, granting review of a lower court's decision that errors during the trial tainted his sentencing.

If the justices overturn the appeals court, Tsarnaev's death sentence could be reinstated. If they do not, he would nevertheless serve multiple life sentences in prison.

Tsarnaev, 27, was convicted of dozens of crimes in the terror attack that killed three people in 2013, and he received a death sentence in 2015. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit threw out the death sentence last year, finding that the judge in the trial failed to ensure a fair jury after wall-to-wall news coverage of the attack.

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[sumanghosh-pbdw]

0:18 - 24 states use it:
1. Montana
2. Idaho
3. Wyoming
4. Nevada
5. Utah
6. Arizona
7. Texas
8. Florida
and so on
0:20 - 23 don't allow
1. Washington
2. Colorado
3. New Nexico
4. Alaska
5. Hawaii
6. Maine
7. New York
and so on
0:23 - current moratorium or temp. hold:
1. Oregan
2. California
and so on
0:42 - America was influenced by Britain.

[devonsatchell]

Texas should be number 1. They love their death penalty

[truharris]

THEY CAN NEVER CALL THEMSELVES CIVILISED AS THEYVE THE DEATH PENALTY. 😢

[AmyAmy-erbp]

The land of Mistakes... How many mistakes were you going to allow to happen?

[junevandermark]

My guess is that most people who support the death penalty expect others to do “the dirty work” for them. But remember that when you support the death penalty … those deaths are also on YOU, and that when your own beloved family members become caught up in the process, you also had a personal investment in their deaths.

From the book … Lord High Executioner: An Unashamed Look at Hangmen, Headsmen, and Their Kind … author … Howard Engel
There has never been a case in Britain where a future prime minister has acted on the scaffold, yet in the state of New York, the future President, Grover Cleveland, as sheriff of Erie County, refused to delegate to another the responsibility of executing a criminal. He did the job himself.

[mrbear]

Interesting how the map looks like an electoral college map?

[mvsprborst]

Oregon voted for death penalty. Then one governor after another decided it's against their beliefs.

[kimmiet]

Why would it cost more to try a person to be sentenced the death penalty? Evidence is evidence and trials should be handled the same in all cases.

[thewatcher]

On this day we remember that sometimes the most innocent of the people can be executed.

[spbuk]

I am against the death penalty at all costs.

[mindy]

How can we get our state to start using it (Wisconsin) and I believe if children are abused and die it should be used.

[TerienAbecedo-mqyz]

I have case for get in court for death penalty for fcc violation

[SugarMint]

Only in Asia is the Philippines who used electrocution and it was first used during the American colonial rule until Marcos Sr. Administration

[richardchartier]

Using Capital punishment for justice in the case of murder makes our society just as guilty as that person. Containing a person behind the walls of a penal colony or prison is more humane and it's also the right thing to do as with justice as well. The electric chair is a horribly painful way to die for about usually 20 seconds or so.

[abdielgaldamez]

It should be everywhere too punish those evil criminals

[TerienAbecedo-mqyz]

Transparency a lot in California wrap papers

[Barbara-prui]

Maybe one day the United States will get rid of the death penalty. Its inhumane. 🏵️🏵️

[WonderboyWDE]

I’m so tired of hearing that BS line about “disproportionate number have been black.” Look here’s the raw reasoning for that…if percentage wise there are more black people murdering people than there are murders of other races, then there will obviously be a larger percentage of black people on death row, and executed, than other races. The problem isn’t with the system, the problem is with the population. You don’t hear people up in arms about the extreme difference in the raw numbers when it comes to gang affiliations by race, which is responsible for a large number of both crimes and unsolved crimes. You know why you don’t hear the black community up in arms about that? 2 reasons…1- a large portion of the black community benefits in some fashion by gang activity and 2- that would require them admit that all the complaints they make about “disproportionate numbers of inmates being black” actually didn’t hold any merits due to the known link between gangs and crime, which equates to raw numbers of criminals and validates the FBI’s cold hard facts regarding why there are more black criminals per capita by race than other races!

[verycursedplane]

Death penalty in US is not mandatory and is too hard to even apply it consistently to have it being effective

[TerienAbecedo-mqyz]

Zuckermber are guilty already just need attorney