Issue of the Week: Death Penalty

1. On average, how long are inmates held on death row before they are put to death?

• Currently, an inmate is on death row for 169 months or 14 years and one month before he or she is executed.  
• In Foster v. Florida, 2002, the Supreme Court noted that long delays between sentencing and execution, compounded by a prisoner’s uncertainty over time of execution, could be agonizing, resulting in “horrible feelings” and “immense mental anxiety amounting to a great increase in the offender’s punishment.”.

2. What was the first case in which the death penalty was used?

• According to the University of Alaska at Anchorage Justice center, "the first known execution in the territory now known as the United States of America was of Captain George Kendall, who was shot by a firing squad in Jamestown in December 1607 (other sources say sometime in 1608), accused of sowing discord and mutiny".

3. What other countries have the death penalty?

• Afghanistan Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belize Botswana Chad China (People's Republic) Comoros Congo (Democratic Republic) Cuba Dominica Egypt Equatorial Guinea Ethiopia Guinea Guyana India Indonesia Iran Iraq Jamaica Japan Jordan Kuwait Lebanon

  Lesotho Libya Malaysia Mongolia Nigeria North Korea Oman Pakistan Palestinian Authority Qatar St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Saudi Arabia Sierra Leone Singapore Somalia Sudan Syria Taiwan Thailand Trinidad and Tobago Uganda United Arab Emirates United States Vietnam Yemen Zimbabwe

  
  
  Read more: The Death Penalty Worldwide — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0777460.html#ixzz1fge9baFk

Sources:

• http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/time-death-row
• http://justice.uaa.alaska.edu/death/history.html
• http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0777460.html