1. In which region of the USA are murder rates highest? A DPIC study of 30 years of FBI Uniform Crime Report homicide data found that the South has consistently had by far the highest murder rate. The South accounts for more than 80% of executions. The Northeast, which has fewer than 0.5% of all executions, has consistently had the lowest murder rate.
In which region are death penalties highest? California
2. What percentage of counties in the USA impose the death penalty? 2%
3. Name three states that have recently repealed the death penalty. New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York
4. What is the most widely used method of execution in the USA? lethal injection (1352)
What is the least commonly used method? firing squad (3)
5. What inferences can you draw from statistics about the race of victims and offenders?
Jurors in Washington state are three times more likely to recommend a death sentence for a black defendant than for a white defendant in a similar case. In Louisiana, the odds of a death sentence were 97% higher for those whose victim was white than for those whose victim was black .
6. What percentage of executed offenders are women? There were 51 women on death row as of October 1, 2020. This constitutes less than 2% of the total death row population.
9. What evidence is available in relation to the use of the death penalty and deterrence of murder? According to a survey of the former and present presidents of the country’s top academic criminological societies, 88% of these experts rejected the notion that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder.
10. Where does the USA rank on an international scale of rates of capital punishment? 5th
List the countries that executed offenders at higher rate than the USA =China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Iraq, Egypt.