Capital Punishment in the United States

Capital punishment in the United States is the state-imposed execution of people convicted of certain crimes. Its legality and use vary across jurisdictions and have changed through constitutional rulings and legislation.

Capital Case: A criminal prosecution in which the government seeks or imposes a death sentence. Special procedures govern prosecutions in which death is a possible punishment.
Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution: The constitutional amendment that prohibits excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishments. Its prohibition supplies the central constitutional standard for execution practices.
Abolition of the Death Penalty in the United States: The elimination of capital punishment by federal or state law. Abolition jurisdictions reject the practice that other U.S. jurisdictions retain.
Capital Punishment and Wrongful Convictions: The relationship between death sentences and the discovery of factual or legal errors in convictions. Exonerations show that irreversible punishment can follow flawed capital cases.
Bifurcated Trial: A trial divided into separate stages for determining guilt and deciding punishment. In capital trials, a separate penalty phase weighs aggravating and mitigating evidence.
Furman v. Georgia: A 1972 Supreme Court case that invalidated existing death-penalty schemes as arbitrarily applied. The ruling briefly halted executions nationwide and forced states to revise their laws.
Federal Death Penalty: Capital punishment imposed under federal law for specified federal crimes. It operates alongside state systems under distinct statutes and executive authority.
Race and the Death Penalty in the United States: The study of racial disparities in capital charging, sentencing, and execution in the United States. Research has found disparities tied to defendants' and victims' race in capital outcomes.
Aggravating and Mitigating Factors: Facts considered in deciding whether a criminal sentence should be more or less severe. These factors guide capital sentencers when choosing between death and a lesser penalty.
Gregg v. Georgia: A 1976 Supreme Court case that upheld revised capital-sentencing procedures. It allowed executions to resume under systems designed to guide sentencing discretion.

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