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:
“...here he is, fully alive, and it is hard to picture him fully dead. Death is thirty-three hours away and here we are talking about the brain size of birds and bloodhounds and hunting in the woods. You can only attend to death for so long before the life force sucks you right in again.”
—Helen Prejean (b. 1940)
“It is odd that the NCAA would place a school on probation for driving an athlete to class, or providing a loan, but would have no penalty for a school that violates Title IX, a federal law.”
—Cardiss L. Collins (b. 1931)