Capital Punishment inThe United States: Pathfinder

The history of capital punishment in the United States is rich. The United States was once a true leader in the advancement of human rights. In many ways it continues to be, but one stark area where it is no long a global leader is that of capital punishment. Hindered largely by the Constitutional principal that the death penalty is an issue reserved for each state to govern, the death penalty continues in at least some of the United States. The following sources are useful to uncover the history of capital punishment in the United States, to compare the position of the United States to the rest of the global community, and to track the development of international and domestic law in this area.

1. Amnesty International http://web.amnesty.org/pages/deathpenalty-index-eng

This website is useful to researching capital punishment trends globally. The site provides up-to-date statistics, news, and current campaigns against capital punishment. It also offers links to several blogs of death penalty experts. While it is not produced by a governmental agency, the information provided on the site is published by a long-standing, widely respected non-governmental organization. Thus, this site is both credible and current. The following are more specific links to useful materials found on Amnesty’s website:

Facts and Statistics
http://web.amnesty.org/pages/deathpenalty-statistics-eng

News and Development http://web.amnesty.org/pages/deathpenalty-developments-eng

Death Penalty Blogs
http://deathpenaltyinformation.blogspot.com/

2. Cornell’s Legal Information Institute http://www.law.cornell.edu/

The LII offers a deep database of free online historical legal documents, including the text of the United States Constitution. The Constitution is a central document to consider when understanding capital punishment in the United States. When the U.S. finally ratified an international treaty that addressed several civil and political rights, it also filed three reservations regarding its continued practice of capital punishment. State sovereignty is the main justification for the U.S.’s failure to join the growing global push for abolition of the death penalty. The source of state sovereignty is found in the tenth amendment of the Constitution. The following links are particularly useful to understanding this issue:

Constitution Index
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.overview.html

Tenth Amendment Text
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html#amendmentx

3. GPO Access http://www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html

Using its fairly advanced search tools, one can explore different volumes of the Federal Register as well as other sources of law from the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the federal government.

Executive http://www.gpoaccess.gov/executive.html
Federal Register http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html

Legislative http://www.gpoaccess.gov/legislative.html

Judicial http://www.gpoaccess.gov/judicial.html

4. Texas Execution Information http://www.txexecutions.org/

Texas is the state that performs the most executions each year. This website offers many statistics about the death penalty and death penalty news in Texas. There are actually several websites available that are similar to this one. The focus of this particular site is the recent and scheduled executions in Texas. There are a number of more detailed links available from the site’s main page.

5. United State Supreme Court Webpage http://www.supremecourtus.gov/

This source offers a number of useful tools regarding capital punishment. Here one can find the most recent court decisions, archived cases back to the October term of 1991, and even background information on the current and former Supreme Court Justices. Also, this is another source of an free, electronic copy of the United States Constitution

Recent Decisions (2003-current)
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/opinions.html

Archived Decisions
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/boundvolumes.html

Justices
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/about/members.pdf

Constitution
http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/document.html?doc=3&title.raw=Constitution%252

6. State Courts Webpages (Web addresses vary)

Governing capital punishment is a state issue. Thus, using the various states’ court webpages, one can search the available resources to uncover each state’s position concerning capital punishment within its jurisdiction. Because each state’s site is unique and offers different tools, one may need to take time exploring the available links provided from the initial webpage. The following links are some examples:

Minnesota http://www.courts.state.mn.us/?page=550

Wisconsin http://www.wicourts.gov/about/organization/supreme/index.htm

Alaska http://www.state.ak.us/courts/ctinfo.htm#supreme