Federal Death Penalty Act Of 1994 example essay topic

There are many crimes where the death penalty can be sentenced to the defendant. Within federal statutes 42 crimes authorized the use of the death penalty, 33 of those involving murder of some type, 5 involving felony-murder doctrine, and the other 4 are treason, espionage, trafficking large quantities of drugs, and authorizing, attempting, or advising the killing of any officer, juror, or witness in cases involving a Continuing Criminal Enterprise, regardless of whether such killing actually occurs. "The Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994 was enacted as Title VI of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 and became effective on September 13, 1994. See Pub. L. 103-322, Title VI, Sections 60001-26, Sept. 13, 1994,108 Stat. 1959 (codified at 18 U.S.C. 3591-3598).

In passing this legislation, Congress established constitutional procedures for imposition of the death penalty for 60 offenses under 13 existing and 28 newly-created Federal capital statutes, which fall into three broad categories: (1) homicide offenses; (2) espionage and treason; and (3) non-homicidal narcotics offenses. Drug-related killings under 21 U.S.C. 848 (e) and political assassinations under 18 U.S.C. 1751 (presidential and staff) and 18 U.S.C. 351 (congressional and cabinet, etc.) are not expressly included in the Act's otherwise exhaustive listing of death penalty offenses. However, Section 3591 (a) (2) of the Act expressly extends to "any other offense for which a sentence of death is provided" and "The death penalty under 21 U.S.C. 848 (e) (1) (A) - (B) was enacted as part of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 and became effective on November 18, 1988. See Pub. L. 100-690, Nov. 18, 1988,102 Stat. 4181. In passing this legislation, Congress expressly intended to punish and deter anyone who intentionally kills or counsels, commands, induces, procures, or causes an intentional killing of: (A) any person while (1) engaging in or (2) working in furtherance of any continuing criminal enterprise, or (3) while engaging in a major Federal drug felony; or (B) any law enforcement officer during or in relation to a Federal drug felony.

See 134 Cong. Rec. S. 16042 (daily ed. Oct. 14, 1988) (statement of Sen. D'Amato); see also 134 Cong. Rec. H. 7274 (daily ed. Sept. 8, 1988) (statement of Rep. Ge kas).

Offenses under 21 U.S.C. 848 (e) include "any person" who commits or causes another to commit a drug-related intentional killing as defined by the statute, not just "drug kingpins", (web) outlines the capital crimes act that allows death penalty. These two titles can be found in the criminal resource manuals 69 and 68 respectively. Title 9 Chapter 10, of the United States Attorney Manual, outlines all statutes involving capital crimes within federal jurisdiction. As for the death penalty in foreign countries, most, if not all, of Europe has abolished the death penalty.

They feel it is a violation of the right to live doctrine. According to Amnesty International, "the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that it "considers that the death penalty has no legitimate place in the penal systems of modern civilized societies, and that its application may well be compared with torture and be seen as inhuman and degrading punishment within the meaning of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights". In August of 2002, Turkey abolished the death penalty. More than 90 countries still use the death penalty. In 1999, executions were carried out in at least 34 different countries around the world, and in 55 countries, prisoners were sentenced to death. "During 1999, at least 1,813 prisoners were executed in 31 countries and 3,857 people were sentenced to death in 63 countries.

In 1999, 85 percent of all known executions took place in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the United States... In addition, hundreds of executions were reported in Iraq, but there is no way of calculating precise numbers". (Senna and Siegel 424). Over half of the countries in the world have abolished the death penalty, in practice or in law. 13 countries have abolished it for ordinary crimes such as murder but retain it for military use or other crimes committed in exceptional circumstances, 73 countries have abolished capital punishment for all crimes, and 22 other countries have stopped practicing executions in the past 10 years.

Over 100 countries have laws banning the execution of juvenile offenders. Since 1990, six countries have been known to execute prisoners who were under 18 years old at the time of the crime; Yemen, US, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Iran. The United States has carried out the most executions on juvenile offenders with 13 since 1990.