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Thirty-six states and the federal government have the death penalty on their books. Authorized methods of execution include lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber, hanging, and the firing squad. The U.S. Supreme Court has examined several topics related to the death penalty. In 2002 the Supreme Court banned the execution of the mentally retarded. In 2005 Roper v. Simmons declared the execution of juveniles unconstitutional. In 2007 the Court agreed to hear a case involving two men on Kentucky’s death row and whether lethal injection violates the 8th Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Issues surrounding the administration and fairness of the death penalty are perennially hot topics in U.S. politics and among members of the bench and bar. Several states are engaged in moratoria on executions while they study possible inequities in their systems. In 2000 Illinois was the first state to place a moratorium on executions because of general death-penalty concerns. In 2004, the New York Supreme Court declared the state’s existing death penalty unconstitutional. In 2006 New Jersey placed a formal moratorium on executions because of general death-penalty concerns. As of October 2007, 19 states and the federal government have placed executions on hold because of the method of execution used.
Innocence projects across the country continue to examine the innocence of death-row inmates through DNA testing. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, since 1973, there have been 124 exonerations in 24 different states (as of July 2, 2007).
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