The Death Penalty in the United States

The first execution of 2006 is scheduled for January 17th in California. There are already 29 executions scheduled through June of 2006, 12 of which are scheduled in Texas. The next highest number is in Pennsylvania which has 4 scheduled.

Texas, with 355 executions since 1976, has a nasty habit of following through on scheduled executions while Pennsylvania, with 3 executions since 1976 (all of them volunteers), has a tendency to schedule but, luckily, not necessarily follow through so we can hope.

The 2005 total ended up exceeding the total in 2004 by one. Of the 60 executions 19 of them were in Texas which at least was down from 23 in 2004. Unfortunately that means that other states upped their rate of execution. The worst offenders in this category were Missouri and Indiana both of which went from zero executions in 2004 to 5 in 2005 and tied with North Carolina for second behind perennial leader Texas. Virginia, with 94 executions since 1976, the second most behind Texas, actually managed not to execute anyone in 2005.

It’s long overdue but I think I will officially bestow the title “Bloody” on Texas. They’ve earned it down there. So now in addition to Medieval Kansas, we have Bloody Texas.

Elsewhere, neither Kansas nor New York have bothered to redefine death penalty statutes that have been declared unconstitutional by their state supreme courts.

The New Jersey legislature has passed a moratorium on executions that will be in effect until at least January 15, 2007.

A group of current and past prosecutors in California urged the legislature to pass a bill that would halt executions in that state for two years while the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice reviews the problem of wrongful convictions in the state and the executive moratorium on executions in Illinois continues.

The same bill that invoked the moratorium in New Jersey mandates the establishment of a commission to consider both the fairness, including racial and geographic fairness, and the costs of capital punishment. The commission, which will consist of 13 members, must be in place by the end of January and has until November of 2006 to make its report.

The bill had overwhelming support in the New Jersey legislature passing by a margin of 30-6 in the Senate and 55-21 in the Assembly. Governor Cody has indicated that he will sign the bill into law just before he leaves office on January 17.

New Jersey has never executed anyone under its current death penalty law so hopefully this is the next step in a process that will ultimately eliminate the death penalty in the Garden State. Yeah, Joisey!