(Spanish CNN) – In more than half of the states of the United States, the death penalty remains in force, a penalty that has been applied for decades only for one crime: murder. Here is an overview of what the key legislation says.
By 2021, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a total of 27 states had this type of sanction: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, South Carolina, North Carolina, South Dakota, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
Of those 27, there are three where governors have declared a moratorium on executions, so they’re not moving forward: California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.
The federal government may also, in some cases, require that the death penalty be applied. However, as the non-governmental organization dedicated to providing information on the subject explains, federal executions are much rarer than those defined at the state level.
On the other hand, even those who are part of the military – and therefore subject to a separate system of laws and procedures – may occasionally be punished with this sanction, although it was rarely used outside wartime.
In this photo, the San Quentin death row gas chamber is seen before being dismantled at San Quentin State Prison, California on March 13, 2019. (Credit: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)
Which offenses are punishable by the death penalty
Since the reintroduction of the death penalty in 1976, all executions have been for the same crime: murder. And all prisoners currently on death row are sentenced for this cause, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Each state, however, can determine which circumstances in the event of murder are considered aggravating for the crime to be punished with the death penalty. According to an analysis by the organization, for example, the murder of a child is an aggravating circumstance that can lead to a death sentence in almost half of the states that allow this punishment.
The aggravating circumstances, which depend on each state, are many and may concern situations as diverse as murder during a kidnapping or rape; murder of a law enforcement officer on duty, murder when the accused had already been convicted of other crimes punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty, etc. They can be found here (in English).
without pulling the trigger
In the majority of executions carried out since 1976, the people to whom this punishment was applied had directly killed the victim, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
However, there are cases where the executed had ordered or hired another person to kill the victim or had participated in a crime in which the victim died at the hands of another of the persons involved in that crime (although the Supreme Court restricted the use of this punishment in cases like this, the organization says).
What Happens in Rape Cases
Historically, the death penalty has been widely applied in rape cases, particularly of blacks over white victims, the institution explains.
In 1976, the possibility was left open that other crimes besides murder, including rape, would be punished with the death penalty. However, the Supreme Court quickly ruled that the penalty was not applicable for the rape of an adult in the event that he was not dead and therefore was extended to all rapes if the victims survived.
Other offenses under state law
There is state legislation that provides for the possibility of capital punishment for other crimes besides murder, although there are no people on death row for any of these crimes.
Drug trafficking, for example, is a capital offense in Florida and Missouri. The aggravated kidnapping, for its part, is contemplated in this state by several states: Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Missouri and Montana.
In Georgia and Missouri, plane hijacking is also on this list, and in some states treason, bombing near bus terminals, and aggravated assaults on incarcerated or murderers are considered possible capital crimes. .
At the federal level there are statutes of this type for the crimes of espionage, treason and trafficking in large quantities of drugs although, as in the state case, no one is on death row for these crimes.
