TU Tuesday-Crime

Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.


My Question: Which states have the death penalty and is there one race that is more affected than another by the death penalty?



http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/AZ-on-pace-to-match-busiest-year-for-executions-3406467.php


http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/dpusa.htm


http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf


The article that I read was about Arizona possibly meeting their record high for the number of executions of inmates this year.  Arizona has already executed two inmates this year and if the courts approve five more then it "...would match the 1999 total, the most ever in the state". The two inmates already executed, Robert Henry Moormann and Robert Charles Towery, were executed February 29 and March 8, respectively. The five other inmates up for the death penalty have committed crimes of rape, murder, kidnapping (more than one).  According to the article "...Arizona appears to be bucking a national trend that has seen many states move away from the death penalty."  At deathpenalty.org, there is an updated fact sheet (updated March 12, 2012) all about those executed by the death penalty.  There are two pie charts on race.  The first is entitled "Race of Defendants Executed".  It shows that of all executed, 722 were White (56%), 441 were Black (34%), 98 were Hispanic (8%), and 24 were listed as "Other" and accounted for 2%.  These numbers are based off of the 1285 people executed by the death penalty since 1976. The second pie chart was called "Race of Victims in Death Penalty Cases".  According to the graph 76% were White, 15% were Black, 6% were Hispanic and 3% were "Other".  Across the United States, more than half of the states have the death penalty.  These states are:

Alabama Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Idaho Indiana Kansas Kentucky

Louisiana Maryland Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire North Carolina Ohio Oklahoma Oregon

Pennsylvania South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Virginia Washington Wyoming