Death Penalty
The Innocence Protection Act is the first federal death penalty reform to be enacted. Since the federal reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976,in 2002 more than 100 people have been released from death rows across the United States because of procedural errors or newly discovered evidence of their innocence.
The Innocence Protection Act is a first attempt at ensuring innocent people are not put to death. Thirty-six states and the federal government have enacted legislation that permits the courts to impose death as a criminal sentence. Of those thirty-six states, Texas executed the most inmates during 2009 with 24 executions. The total number of executions in the United States in 2009 was 52. In 2009, the total number of inmates serving a death sentence in the United States was 3,173.
Read more about this topic: Innocence Protection Act
Famous quotes containing the words death and/or penalty:
“... probably all of the women in this book are working to make part of the same quilt to keep us from freezing to death in a world that grows harsher and bleaker—where male is the norm and the ideal human being is hard, violent and cold: a macho rock. Every woman who makes of her living something strong and good is sharing bread with us.”
—Marge Piercy (b. 1936)
“The Reverend Samuel Peters ... exaggerated the Blue Laws, but they did include “Capital Lawes” providing a death penalty for any child over sixteen who was found guilty of cursing or striking his natural parents; a death penalty for an incorrigible son; a law forbidding smoking except in a room in a private house; another law declaring smoking illegal except on a journey five miles away from home,...”
—Administration for the State of Con, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)