A Pax Christi USA Backgrounder on Capital Punishment

HISTORY

From 1930 to 1967, over 4,000 people were executed in the U.S. However, public outrage and legal challenges caused the practice to wane. By 1967, capital punishment had virtually halted in the United States, pending the outcome of several court challenges.

In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in the case of Gregg v. Georgia. It ruled that the death penalty does not invariably violate the Constitution if administered in a manner designed to guard against arbitrariness and discrimination. Several states promptly passed or reenacted capital punishment laws.

Thirty-eight states now have laws authorizing the death penalty, as does the military. Ten states and the District of Columbia have abolished capital punishment. Alaska and Hawaii have never had the death penalty. Most executions have taken place in the states of the Deep South. As of May 1, 2000 there were more than 3,500 people on death row in the U.S.

Worldwide pressure to abolish the death penalty is growing. On April 3, 1998, the UN Commission on Human Rights approved a resolution calling for a moratorium on executions in countries which have the death penalty. The tremendous media attention given to the case of Karla Faye Tucker, reformed death row inmate, revealed to the world what the death penalty eliminates: the possibility of conversion.

Citing a "shameful record of convicting innocent people and putting them on death row," Gov. George Ryan halted all executions in Illinois on January 31, 2000. Legislation which would grant a national moratorium was introduced to Congress in early 2000.

BACK TO PAX CHRISTI INDEX

RETURN TO OFFICIAL STATEMENTS INDEX