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News and Developments 2006: Federal Death Penalty

Concerns about the Use of the Federal Death Penalty in Puerto Rico Continue

Posted: December 13, 2006
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Although no jury has returned a death sentence in a federal case in Puerto Rico in modern times, more cases are pending, raising concerns among many citizens.  Puerto Rico bars the death penalty in its constitution.  However, a U.S. Court of Appeals decision in 2001 held that the federal death penalty can be applied there.  This decision overturned a lower court that ruled the use of the federal death penalty in the Commonwealth would be unconstitutional.  The issue has not been reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.  "It’s still an open issue for the U.S.

NEW RESOURCES: "When the Federal Death Penalty is 'Cruel and Unusual"

Posted: October 20, 2006
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A recent law review article by Prof. Michael Mannheimer of the Salmon P. Chase College of Law argues that the federal penalty may violate the Eighth Amendment's proscription against cruel and unusual punishments when it is used in states that do not have the death penalty. Prof. Mannheimer explores the strain of the Eighth Amendment's history that is specifically concerned with limiting the federal government's power to interfere with the norms of individual states.

FEDERAL DEATH PENALTY: Judge Rules Defendants Can Confront Sentencing Witnesses

Posted: August 18, 2006
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A federal judge presiding over the Aryan Brotherhood murder trial in Santa Ana, California, has ruled that the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which requires that defendants be given the opportunity to confront and cross examine witnesses testifying against them at trial, applies to at least part of the federal death penalty sentencing procedure as well.  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2004 in Crawford v.

Federal Death Penalty Is Focused on New York--Almost All Defendants From Minorities

Posted: August 02, 2006
in
Although New York's death penalty was overturned by the state's high court in 2004, and the legislature has not reinstated it, the federal government has sought the death penalty more in New York than in any other state except Virginia.  However, none of the federal cases has resulted in a death sentence.

RAND Study Finds No Federal Race Bias in Death Penalty From 1995 to 2000

Posted: July 18, 2006
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A recent RAND Corporation study of the federal death penalty from 1995 to 2000 found no evidence of racial bias. Even though the investigators found that the death penalty was more often sought against defendants who murdered white victims, researchers ultimately concluded that the characteristics of the crime, and not the racial characteristics of the victim or the defendant, could be used to make accurate predictions of whether federal prosecutors would seek the death penalty.

Federal Jury Gives Moussaoui Life in Prison Without Parole

Posted: May 03, 2006
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A federal jury voted today that Zacarias Moussaoui should serve a sentence of life in prison without parole despite the government's assertion that his lies to FBI officials contributed to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.  Earlier the jury had found that Moussaoui was responsible for some of the deaths that took place on September 11, and that he was eligible for the death penalty. After weeks of testimony during the sentencing phase of the trial, the jury took 7 days to recommend a sentence of life without parole.

Juries Choosing Death Penalty Less Often in Federal Cases

Posted: April 26, 2006
in
The percentage of federal death penalty cases resulting in death sentences has declined from the 1990s to the present.  Since 1991, juries chose a death sentence in 51 cases compared with 93 cases that ended with a sentence of life in prison, according to Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel, a rate of 35% for death sentences.  Since 2000, juries have returned 29 death sentences and 69 life sentences, a rate of 30%.  (Washington Post, April 25, 2006).

NEW VOICES: Senior Counsel to 9/11 Commission Questions Death Penalty for Moussaoui

Posted: April 12, 2006
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In a recent New York Times op-ed, John Farmer, senior counsel to the 9/11 commission and a former New Jersery attorney general, states that seeking the death penalty for Zacarias Moussaoui detracts from U.S. efforts to seek justice against senior Al Qaeda officials who plotted and carried out the 9/11 attacks. Farmer claims Moussauoi, who was in jail as terrorists plotted and carried out the events of 9/11, was not the "20th hijacker" and is a "poor stand in" for more senior level Al Qaeda leaders who are also in U.S. custody:

NEW VOICES: Mother of September 11 Victim Opposes Death Penalty for Moussaoui

Posted: April 10, 2006
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Alice Hoagland's son, Mark Bingham (pictured), was killed on September 11 as he joined with fellow United Airlines passengers to ground a plane that may have been headed toward the White House. Hoagland is urging a life sentence for Zacarias Moussaoui, who faces the death penalty for his role in the terrorist events of that day. In an interview with The Advocate, Hoagland noted that sparing Moussaoui's life would honor "a reverence for all life" and that it would prevent some from viewing him as a martyr.

Does Killing Really Give Closure?

Posted: March 27, 2006
in
March 26, 2006

Does Killing Really Give Closure?

By Dahlia Lithwick

The past few weeks have been rife with the prospect of closure denied.