Supreme Court Strikes Down Death Penalty In Child Rape Case

It's been 44 years since anyone was executed in the United States for a crime other than murder, but laws allowing the death penalty in other cases are still on the books. Some are now in question, as a result of a U.S. Supreme Court decision Wednesday striking down as unconstitutional a Louisiana law allowing capital punishment of individuals convicted of child rape. Four other states have similar laws. The justices were split on this decision, with five agreeing that the death penalty is "not a proportional punishment" and therefore violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Four justices dissented.

The death penalty itself continues to be a contentious issue both worldwide and in the U.S., where it is legal at the federal level and in all but 14 states and the District of Columbia. Nationwide, there have been 1,105 executions since 1976, when capital punishment was reinstated by the Supreme Court following a four-year moratorium. Capital punishment has been abolished in law or practice by 135 nations and is still used by 60 nations, most often in cases involving people convicted of murder.

The death penalty has broad support among Americans in cases of murder – nearly 70 percent, according to a 2007 Gallup survey - but the size of that still majority opinion drops considerably when life in prison is also offered as an option. A 2007 AP/Ipsos poll along those lines found 52 percent who favored the death penalty, 37 percent life in prison without parole, and 9 percent life in prison with a chance for parole.

Gallup, which has been asking Americans about the death penalty for over 70 years, saw support for capital punishment climb from 59 percent in the mid-1930s to about 69 percent in the mid-1950s. Support then declined steadily, hitting a low of just over 40 percent in 1966, when a slightly higher percentage opposed the death penalty. Support began to rebound almost immediately, rising steadily to a high of 80 percent in 1994, with a few shifts in both directions since then.

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