Focus on the Death Penalty: Index

Alaska & the Death Penalty
Presents information on he death penalty debate in Alaska, including history and resources on attempts to reintroduce capital punishment in Alaska. Last updated 2 March 2000.

• History of the Death Penalty in Alaska: Historical information regarding executions which took place in Territorial Alaska prior to its abolition in 1957.
• Alaska State Legislature: The Alaska Legislature has considered a number of bills in the past several years which would reinstate the death penalty for specified crimes. Also provided is detailed information on Senate Bill 60, currently under consideration, which if passed would place a death penalty advisory vote on the November 1998 ballot.

History & Recent Developments
Provides a history of the death penalty in the U.S. since 1930 and links to significant U.S. Supreme Court decisions on capital punishment and documents on recent developments in the status of the death penalty nationally. Last updated 3 March 2000.

• The Death Penalty in the United States: A brief history of the death penalty in the U.S. since 1930, when death penalty statistics began to be collected on a regular basis. This history emphasize death penalty statistics and the constitutional history of the death penalty.
• Selected U.S. Supreme Court Decisions: Links to important decisions since the 1972 Furman decision.
• Recent Developments & Future of the Death Penalty: Links to reports from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Amnesty International, and the Death Penalty Information Center on recent developments and the future of the death penalty in the U.S.
• Historical Resources: Other historical resources on the death penalty in the U.S. and England.

Death Penalty Statistics
provides statistical information on the death penalty and its application in the U.S., including the number of executions and number of prisoners on the nation's death rows. See The International Context for international statistics and Death Row for state-by-state information. Last updated 2 March 2000.

• Sources of Death Penalty Statistics: Links to the most comprehensive sources of statistics on the death penalty in the United States.
• Executions: Links to resources with detailed information on prisoners executed in the United States.
• Public Opinion Polls on the Death Penalty: National opinion polls.

Death Row
links to state prison death row information, sites about life on death row and death row prisoners, and methods of execution. Last updated 30 Mar 2000.

• Death Row: Summary Information: Summary information on the status of the death penalty in the U.S.; statistics by state on executions in the United States since 1930 and persons under sentence of death.
• State Prison Death Rows: Official death penalty information and statistics, execution procedures, death penalty information from other sources, and historical information on the death penalty in U.S. states which have a death penalty.
• Life on Death Row: Resources on life in the death house and individual condemned prisoners.
• Methods of Execution: About the five methods of execution currently authorized by states and the federal government: lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber, firing squad, and hanging.

The Death Penalty Debate
Introduces the debate on the death penalty with a number of sites providing arguments on both the retentionist and abolitionist sides of the issue, including law enforcement and religious viewpoints. Last updated 2 March 2000.

• Introducing the Debate: Resources which present both sides of the death penalty debate in the U.S.
• Law Enforcement Views: Pro and con views are both represented here.
• Religious Positions: Currently, statements on the death penalty from the Catholic, Protestant, and Islamic religious traditions are represented, as are links to biblical verses touching on the death penalty.

Specific Issues
Provides a more in-depth look at relevent arguments on the cost of the death penalty, the possibility of executing innocent persons. abitrary application of the death penalty, including allegations about racial disparity and unequal justice, and other issues. Last updated 2 March 2000.

• Deterrence: Contrasting views on whether the death penalty deters would-be criminals from committing murder.
• Retribution & Justice for Murder Victims: Addresses the pro-death penalty argument that murderers should be executed in retribution for their crimes and that such retribution serves justice for murder victims and their survivors.
• Executing the Innocent: Addresses abolitionist concerns regarding the possibility of executing innocent people.
• Limiting Appeals & Habeas Corpus Reform: Contrasting views on whether limiting appeals for persons convicted of capital crimes is advisable.
• Cost of the Death Penalty: Studies on the subject are fairly consistent in concluding that the death penalty is extremely expensive, more expensive even than life imprisonment without possibility of parole.
• Alternative Sentencing: The chief alternative to the death penalty proposed is life imprisonment without possibility of parole.
• Fairness of the Death Penalty: Addresses arguments about unfair and arbitrary application of the death penalty, including arguments regarding racial disparities and the inadequacy of indigent legal defense.
• Moratorium on the Death Penalty: The American Bar Association, Amnesty International, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions have called for a moratorium on executions in the U.S. until inequities in the application of the death penalty can be addressed.
• Specific Populations: Resources related to specific death row populations, including women, juveniles, mentally retarded persons, and insane persons.
• Cruel & Unusual Punishment: Contrasting views on whether the death penalty constitutes "cruel and unusual" punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Links to relevant statutory and case law are also provided here.

Organizations & Sites, Pro & Con
Gives links to organizations and web sites devoted to advocating either abolition or retention of the death penalty. See also The Debate: Religious Positions for links to religious sites advocating for or against the death penalty. Last updated 7 March 2000.

• Organizations & Sites Opposing the Death Penalty
• Organizations & Sites Favoring the Death Penalty

The International Context
Provides links to international treaties and protocols on the death penalty and other resources demonstrating how other nations view the death penalty. Last updated 3 March 2000.

• Current International Status of the Death Penalty: Nations which retain the death penalty and those which have abolished it, plus statistics on executions worldwide.
• International Death Penalty Reports & Statistics: International developments on the death penalty and movements toward worldwide abolition as called for by the United Nations and other international bodies.
• U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions: The Special Rapporteur is mandated by the U.N. Commission for Human Rights to address instances of executions that violate international standards regarding human rights and the right to life.
• International Protocols & Covenants Calling for the Abolition of the Death Penalty: The three major international protocols calling for the abolition of the death penalty sponsored by the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and the Council of Europe. Related resources are also included.
• Conventions & Covenants Prohibiting Capital Punishment for Offenses Committed by Persons Under the Age of 18: Three major international conventions sponsored by the United Nations and the Organization of American States.
• International Perspectives on Abolition
• International Views of the Death Penalty in the U.S.: Internationally, capital punishment is widely considered as a human rights issue, and the U.S. record on capital punishment is viewed with some alarm.
• Human Rights Sites: Other important human rights sites.

News
Sites linked here provide news updates on the death penalty. For more in-depth reports on recent developments in the death penalty in the past few years, see History & Recent Developments: Recent Developments & Future of the Death Penalty.

• What's New: From the Death Penalty Information Center, this page offers recent news items on the death penalty.
• Current Issues in Capital Punishment: The Death Penalty Today: From the Death Penalty Information Center.
• Yahoo: Death Penalty Debate: Yahoo provides links to full-text news stories on executions and related sites.

General Indices to Death Penalty Information

• Amnesty International: Death Penalty Websites: Primarily anti-death penalty sites.
• Ethics Updates: Punishment and the Death Penalty: Links to court decisions, legislation, statistical information, and particular sites, including on-line documents and articles on the death penalty.
• Other Sources of Information on the Death Penalty: A resource listing of primarily anti-death penalty sites from the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).
• Yahoo: Death Penalty: Resources on both sides of the issue.

Bibliographies on the Death Penalty

• Court TV Library: The Death Penalty: Basic information about the death penalty in the U.S., plus a number of articles analyzing various aspects of the death penalty.
• Reports from the Death Penalty Information Center: Online reports about capital punishment.
• Death Penalty Annotated Bibliography by Stefan Bauschard at University of Michigan. Annotates selected law journal articles and Supreme Court decisions on the death penalty.
• Death Penalty Quiz: A test on basic facts about capital punishment in the U.S. from the Death Penalty Information Center.