ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the history of capital punishment in the United States and the extent of the use of capital punishment by the states. It presents the points of contention between the proponents and opponents of capital punishment, particularly those associated with moral, deterrence, and racial issues. The chapter describes the current status of capital punishment in light of new scientific advances in DNA detection and legal challenges based on questions of due process of the law. The decline in capital punishment is the result of new DNA testing that has proven some on death row to be innocent, questions regarding racial discrimination and misidentification, lax legal representation of accused criminals, and recently a number of botched lethal injection executions. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which often represents individuals facing the death penalty, has for years pointed to the connection between faulty defense representation and the prospect of the accused facing capital punishment.
