Facts & Research
Crimes Punishable by Death
Death sentences may only be imposed for crimes in which a victim is killed, but state legislatures can determine what specific circumstances make a murder eligible for a death sentence.
DPIC Analysis: Use of the Death Penalty for Killing a Child Victim
About half of all death penalty states include the murder of a child as an aggravating circumstance that can subject a defendant to the death penalty
Overview
All of the prisoners currently on death row and all of those executed in the modern era of the death penalty were convicted of murder. Historically, the death penalty was widely used for rape, particularly against black defendants with white victims. When the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, the Supreme Court left open the possibility of imposing the death penalty for offenses other than murder, such as rape or even armed robbery. However, the Court soon ruled that the death penalty would be unconstitutional for the rape of an adult where no death had occurred. That ban was later extended to any non-homicidal rape by the U.S. Supreme Court decision Kennedy v. Louisiana, and the Court commented that the death penalty could no longer be applied for any crime against an individual where no death occurred. The question of whether the death penalty might be used for crimes against the government, such as treason or espionage, remains unsettled.
At Issue
Many states allow all those who participated in a felony in which a death occurred to be charged with murder and possibly face the death penalty, even though they may not have directly killed anyone. The case of unarmed accomplices in a bank robbery in which an employee is killed is a typical example of felony murder. Since the death penalty is supposed to be reserved for the “worst of the worst” cases, legislatures or the courts could restrict its use only to those who directly participated in killing the victim. Prisoners have also raised claims that the aggravating circumstances that make a crime eligible for the death penalty are too broad, with some state death-penalty laws encompassing nearly all murders, rather than reserving the death penalty for a small subset of murders.
What DPIC Offers
Compilations of state laws are available, along with notable court decisions regarding this issue.
Mar 26, 2018
POLL: Americans Overwhelmingly Oppose Death Penalty for Overdose Deaths
Americans of all ages, races, and political affiliations overwhelmingly oppose the Trump administration plan to pursue capital punishment for drug overdose deaths and believe it will have no effect on addressing the opioid public health crisis, ac…
Read MoreNews & Developments
Dec 23, 2019
DPIC Analysis: Death Penalty Erosion Spreads Across the Western United States in 2019
In a year of declining death-penalty usage across the United States, nowhere was the erosion of capital punishment as sustained and pronounced in 2019 as it was in the western United States. Continuing a wave of momentum from
Apr 03, 2019
Discriminatory Use of Death Penalty Against Gays Raises Concerns Globally and in the U.S.
As human rights activists raise alarms about a new law in Brunei that would punish homosexuality by death by stoning, the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether to hear a case in which jurors who exhibited anti-gay bigotry sentenced…
Feb 15, 2019
He’s on California’s Death Row, But Demetrius Howard Never Killed Anyone
A February 4, 2019 article in the criminal justice newsletter, The Appeal, features the case of Demetrius Howard, a California prisoner sentenced to death for a crime in which he didn’t kill anyone. Howar…
Sep 24, 2018
Questionable Ruling Grants Jeffrey Havard New Sentencing but Not New Trial in Controversial “Shaken Baby” Case
Sixteen years after a notorious and now-discredited forensic witness told a Mississippi jury that Jeffrey Havard had sexually abused and shaken his girlfriend’s six-month-old daughter to death, Havard’s death sent…
May 15, 2018
Illinois Governor Uses Gun-Control Veto to Attempt to Re-Enact Death Penalty
lllinois Governor Bruce Rauner has conditionally vetoed a gun-control initiative unless the legislature agrees to reinstate capital punishment in the state. Exercising an
Mar 21, 2018
Supreme Court Declines to Review Arizona Case Challenging Constitutionality of Death Penalty
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review a sweeping challenge to the constitutionality of capital punishment brought by Arizona death-row prisoner Abel Hidalgo (pictured). After scheduling consideration of
Mar 20, 2018
Public Health Experts Criticize Trump’s Proposal to Seek Death Penalty for Drug Traffickers
Saying “the ultimate penalty has to be the death penalty,” President Donald Trump (pictured) announced on March 19 that he will direct the Department of Justice to seek the death penalty against drug traffickers. The proposal, inc…
Sep 14, 2016
New Podcast: Jeffery Wood and the Texas Law of Parties, With Expert Guest Kate Black
Today, DPIC launches a new podcast series, “Discussions With DPIC,” which will feature monthly, unscripted conversations with death penalty experts on a wide variety of topics. The inaugural episode features a conversation between Texas Defender S…
Feb 23, 2012
LEGISLATION: Virginia Rejects Death Penalty Expansion Bill
On February 22, Virginia’s legislature blocked a bill that would have allowed the death penalty for accomplices to murder who did not actually carry out the killing. The bill would have revised the state’s “triggerman rule,” which…
Nov 10, 2011
LAW REVIEWS: "Executing Those Who Do Not Kill"
A new article to be published in the American Criminal Law Review explores the constitutionality of the death penalty for those convicted of felony murder, i.e., those who participated in a serious crime in which a death occurred, but wer…
