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In the United States, the death penalty can be imposed in the 38 states that allow it (almost exclusively as a sentence for murder), and as a sentence for a number of federal crimes: murder, treason, espionage, and trafficking in large amounts of drugs. The crime of murder often has some further requirements for death penalty eligibility, whether as a state or federal sentence.

A Controversial Sentence

The death penalty continues to be a very controversial topic in the U.S., based on factors such as:

• The arbitrariness of whether a prosecutor will seek the death penalty, and whether juries and judges will accept it
• The racial bias with which the death penalty is sought and meted out (blacks who kill whites are three times more likely to receive the death penalty than whites)
• The shocking number of individuals sentenced to death in the U.S. who were later found to be innocent of the crime (120)
• The fact that the death penalty does not work effectively as a deterrent to crime; the FBI reported in 2006 that the South had the highest murder rate, even though the South accounts for over 80% of executions in the U.S.
• The confirmation that it is much more expensive to execute a criminal than to keep him imprisoned for life
• The U.S. is not in good company with its continued use of the death penalty. Of all known executions around the world in 2006, 91% were in only six countries: China, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan, and the United States. 

Lethal Injection

Thirty-seven of the 38 death penalty states and the federal system use lethal injection as the execution method, and this method has been found to be cruel, sometimes taking up to a half hour to complete the execution, and the inmate may suffer greatly.

Contact a Death Penalty Attorney

Although the number of executions in the U.S. has dropped dramatically since 1999, the death penalty is still with us and does not appear to be on its way out soon. If the death penalty was the sentence for you or for your loved one, you must act now and consult an attorney who has criminal law appeal experience. Contact an aggressive and skilled death penalty lawyer in your area to schedule a consultation.

Related Death Penalty News

March 21, 2008 - Supreme Court Overturns Murder Conviction 

December 14, 2007 - NJ Governor To Abolish Death Penalty 

November 2, 2007 - New DNA Evidence Could Help Convicted Killer 

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