A Pax Christi USA Backgrounder on Capital Punishment

FACTS

THE IMPOSITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY IS RACIALLY BIASED.
· Nearly 90% of persons executed were convicted of killing whites, although people
    of color make up over half of all homicide victims in the United States.
· African-Americans make up half of the death row populations in North Carolina,
    South Carolina, Ohio, Delaware, Mississippi and Virginia; over two-thirds of the
    people on death row in Pennsylvania, Illinois and Louisiana; and more than 3 out
    of 4 people waiting to be executed in federal and US military prisons.
· Over 60% of the persons on death row in California and Texas are either Black,
    Latino, Asian or Native American.

THE NUMBER OF MENTALLY INCOMPETENT PEOPLE BEING EXECUTED HAS INCREASED STEADILY.
· Since 1976, 34 people with mental disabilities have been executed in twelve
    different states, 22 of them in the past eight years.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT KILLS INNOCENT PEOPLE.
· Between 1900 and 1992 there have been 416 documented cases of innocent persons who have been convicted and
    given a death sentence. In 23 of these cases, the person was executed..

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IS NOT A DETERRENT TO CRIME.
· States which have the death penalty have higher civilian murder rates than those that do not.
    The average murder rate per 100,000 people in states with capital punishment is about 6.6, while it is 3.5 in
    abolitionist states.

THE UNITED STATES LEADS THE WORLD IN SENTENCING CHILDREN TO DIE.
· Every major international human rights treaty explicitly prohibits executing people for crimes committed
    before age 18.
· 160 children have been sentenced to death since 1973.
· Of the 38 states with the death penalty, 15 have set the minimum age for death at 18; 5 states set the minimum at 17;
   8 set it at 16; 10 have no minimum age.
· In 1996, Mississippi prosecutors sought the death penalty for juveniles as young as 13 years of age. In Indiana,
    10-year-olds can now be tried as adults and are eligible for execution.


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