Crimes subject to capital punishment

Crimes subject to the death penalty vary by jurisdiction. All jurisdictions which use capital punishment designate the highest grade of murder a capital crime, although most jurisdictions require aggravating circumstances. Treason is a capital offense in several jurisdictions. Other capital crimes include: aggravated rape in Louisiana, Florida, and Oklahoma; extortionate kidnapping in Oklahoma; aggravated kidnapping in Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky and South Carolina; aircraft hijacking in Alabama; drug trafficking resulting in a person's death in Connecticut; train wrecking which leads to a person's death, and perjury which leads to a person's death in California.^] In practice, no one has been executed for a crime other than murder or conspiracy to murder since James Coburn was executed for robbery in Alabama on September 4, 1964. On June 25, 2008 in Kennedy v. Louisiana, the US Supreme Court ruled against Louisiana's child rape death penalty, saying "there is a distinction between intentional first-degree murder on the one hand and nonhomicide crimes against individual persons." The Court went beyond the question in the case to also rule out the death penalty for any crime against an individual (as opposed to "offenses against the state," such as treason or espionage) "where the victim’s life was not taken."

As of June 2008, there are no death row inmates facing capital punishment for a crime other than murder.

The most recent executions solely for crimes other than homicide were, respectively:

• Rape - Ronald Wolfe on May 8, 1964, in Missouri.
• Criminal assault - Rudolph Wright on January 11, 1962, in California.
• Kidnapping - Billy Monk on November 21, 1960, in California.
• Robbery/rape/kidnapping - Caryl Chessman on May 2, 1960, in California.
• Espionage - Ethel and Julius Rosenberg on June 19, 1953, in New York (Federal execution)
• Desertion - Eddie Slovik on January 31, 1945, in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, France (Execution by firing squad).^[19]
• Burglary - Frank Bass on August 8, 1941, in Alabama.
• Train Robbery - Black Jack Ketchum April 26, 1901 in Clayton, New Mexico (then a territory rather than a state).
• Arson - George Hughes, George Smith, and Asbury Hughes on August 1, 1884, in Alabama.
• Piracy - Nathaniel Gordon on February 21, 1862, in New York (Federal execution). Was actually executed for slave trading, which was defined as piracy and subject to the same penalty.
• Treason - John Conn in 1862 in Texas.
• Slave revolt - Slaves named Caesar, Sam and Sanford on 19 October 1860, in Alabama.
• Aiding a runaway slave - Starling Carlton in 1859 in South Carolina.
• Theft - Slave named Jake on December 3, 1855, in Alabama.
• Horse stealing - James Wilson and Fred Salkman on 28 November 1851, in California.
• Forgery - Unknown defendant on 6 March 1840, in South Carolina.
• Counterfeiting - Thomas Davis on 11 October 1822, in Alabama.
• Sodomy/buggery/bestiality - Joseph Ross on December 20, 1785, in Westmoreland Co., Pennsylvania.
• Concealing the birth/death of an infant - Hannah Piggen in 1785 in Middlesex, Massachusetts.
• Witchcraft - African American person named Manuel on June 15, 1779, in (present-day) Illinois.

Several people who were executed have received posthumous pardons for their crimes. For example, slave revolt was a capital crime, and many who were executed for that reason have since been posthumously pardoned.

<< Prev - Next >>