# 38 states allowed the death penalty in 2002. What is the number now? What are the sentencing ... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 27, 2015, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/38-states-allowed-the-death-penalty-in-2002-what-is-the-number-now-what-are-the-sentencing/729108 "2015-08-27T21:49:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/38-states-allowed-the-death-penalty-in-2002-what-is-the-number-now-what-are-the-sentencing/729108/1 "2015-08-27T21:49:31Z")
Hi, 38 states allowed the death penalty in 2002. What is the number now? What are the sentencing guidelines for most of them? Must the jury unanimously agree on the existence of aggravators and unanimously recommend the death penalty? I look forward to your feedback. davidmich > **[JUDICIAL NOTEBOOK: Death penalty sentencing: Should the majority rule?](https://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/03/jn)** > > Timothy Ring appealed his death sentence to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the judge in his trial rendered the death penalty verdict, a procedure that violated his Sixth Amendment right to a trial by a jury. "Of the 38 states that allowed the death penalty in 2002, 29 were already in compliance with the \*Ring decision, with the final death penalty determination resting in the juries’ hands. However, five states (including Arizona) had placed the sentencing decision in the judges’ hands, and four states (including Florida) allowed the jury to recommend a sentence but left the final decision to the judge. …While less-than-unanimous verdicts are common in U.S. civil trials, most states require juror unanimity in criminal cases (except for Oregon and Louisiana), and all states require unanimity in the guilt phase of capital trials. Yet Florida is unique in that it lets a majority of the jury panel recommend the death penalty during the penalty phase of capital cases, rather than requiring that the panel reach a unanimous decision. The uniqueness of Florida’s non-unanimity law may not last, however, as other states (most notably Georgia) have attempted to introduce legislation that permits similar non-unanimous death penalty verdicts." \*In 2002, Timothy Ring (Ring v. Arizona) appealed his death sentence to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the judge in his trial rendered the death penalty verdict, a procedure that violated his Sixth Amendment right to a trial by a jury. The court agreed, ruling that Arizona’s death penalty statute was unconstitutional because it allowed “a sentencing judge, sitting without a jury, to find an aggravating circumstance necessary for imposition of the death penalty.” ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/38-states-allowed-the-death-penalty-in-2002-what-is-the-number-now-what-are-the-sentencing/729108/2 "2015-08-27T22:09:43Z")
from 2006… > **[The Constitution Project](https://www.pogo.org/the-constitution-project)** > > The Constitution Project seeks to safeguard our constitutional rights when the government exercises power in the name of national security and domestic policing, including ensuring our institutions serve as a check on that power. Twenty-two of the thirty-two states that currently impose the death penalty require that the jury unanimously find the aggravators that make the defendant death eligible and require that the jury unanimously sentence or make a unanimous recommendation of death.1 The federal death penalty statute also requires a jury to find aggravators unanimously and make a unanimous recommendation of death.2 Nine of the other ten states require unanimity as to one of these decisions. In these nine states, either the jury must make a unanimous finding as to the aggravators that make the defendant death eligible or the ultimate sentencing recommendation, but not both.3 In the most egregious departure from unanimous decision- 1 Arizona (Ariz. rev. stAt. ANN. § 13-752(E), (H) (2013)); Arkansas (Ark. COde ANN. § 5-4-603(a) (2012)); California (CAl. peNAl COde § 190.4(a)-(b) (West 2013)); Colorado (COlO. rev. stAt. §18-1.3- 1201(2)(b) (2012)); Georgia (gA. COde. ANN. § 17-10-31(c) (2012)); Idaho (idAhO COde ANN. § 19-2515(3) (b) (2012)); Kansas (kAN. stAt. ANN. § 21-6617(e) (West 2012)); Louisiana (lA. COde Crim. prOC. ANN. art. 905.7 (2013)); Mississippi (miss. COde ANN. § 99-19-103 (2013)); New Hampshire (N.h. rev. stAt. ANN. § 630:5(IV) (2013)); Ohio (OhiO rev. COde ANN. § 2929.03(B), (D) (West 2013)); Oklahoma (OklA. stAt. ANN. tit. 21, § 701.11 (West 2013)); Oregon (Or. rev. stAt. ANN § 163.150(1)(b)-(e) (West 2013)); Pennsylvania (42 pA. CONs. stAt. ANN. § 9711(c)(1)(iv) (West 2013)); South Carolina (s.C. COde ANN. § 16-3-20(C) (2012)); South Dakota (s.d. COdified lAws §§ 23A-26-1, 23A-27A-4 (2013)); Tennessee (teNN. COde ANN. § 39-13-204(g) (2013)); Texas (tex. COde Crim. prOC. ANN. art. 37.071(2) (West 2013)); Washington (wAsh. rev. COde ANN. §§ 10.95.060, 10.95.080 (West 2013)); and Wyoming (wyO. stAt. ANN. § 6-2-102(d)(ii) (2012)). North Carolina requires a unanimous jury recommendation to impose the death penalty. N.C. geN. stAt. ANN. § 15A-2000 (2013). See also Geary v. State, 952 P.2d 431, 433 (Nev. 1998) (holding aggravators must be unanimously determined and a jury must unanimously recommend death); State v. McKoy, 394 S.E.2d 426, 428 (N.C. 1990) (requiring jury to determinate aggravators unanimously). 2 18 U.S.C. § 3593(c)–(d) (2006). ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/38-states-allowed-the-death-penalty-in-2002-what-is-the-number-now-what-are-the-sentencing/729108/3 "2015-08-27T22:16:59Z")
> **[Law doesn't require unanimous jury for death sentence](https://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/law-doesnt-require-unanimous-jury-for-death-sentence/2109467/)** > > The jurors had started to talk it out. In Florida, defendants must be found guilty by a unanimous vote, whether they steal a car or kill. But when it comes to recommending the ultimate punishment, a simple majority, 7-5, suffices. This is the only state in America that allows such split juries to recommend death. And it matters. In 2012, almost two-thirds of the defendants sent to Florida’s death row were ushered there even after some of the jurors believed they should be spared. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/38-states-allowed-the-death-penalty-in-2002-what-is-the-number-now-what-are-the-sentencing/729108/4 "2015-08-27T23:37:07Z")
[Map from Wikipedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Capital_punishment_in_the_United_States_of_American_as_of_March_2015.png). The file says as of March 2015, while the main page says August, because I don’t think anything has since changed. ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/38-states-allowed-the-death-penalty-in-2002-what-is-the-number-now-what-are-the-sentencing/729108/5 "2015-08-28T00:37:45Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > [Map from Wikipedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Capital_punishment_in_the_United_States_of_American_as_of_March_2015.png). The file says as of March 2015, while the main page says August, because I don’t think anything has since changed. Maryland should be dark green. The four people on death row have commuted ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/38-states-allowed-the-death-penalty-in-2002-what-is-the-number-now-what-are-the-sentencing/729108/6 "2015-09-01T17:38:08Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > [Map from Wikipedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Capital_punishment_in_the_United_States_of_American_as_of_March_2015.png). The file says as of March 2015, while the main page says August, because I don’t think anything has since changed. If you look down below, it’s been updated since March. It happens–the uploader thought they’d keep uploading new ones, but Wikipedia usually prefers to update the images, so you don’t have to go every page it’s used and update each of them. Heck, apparently some doper even read **Mdcastle** ’s comment. Hope he’s right. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/38-states-allowed-the-death-penalty-in-2002-what-is-the-number-now-what-are-the-sentencing/729108/7 "2015-09-01T17:49:20Z")
NCADP updates its numbers every month. Currently, [31 states](http://www.ncadp.org/map) allow the death penalty (at least nominally) ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/38-states-allowed-the-death-penalty-in-2002-what-is-the-number-now-what-are-the-sentencing/729108/8 "2015-09-01T19:10:11Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > [Map from Wikipedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Capital_punishment_in_the_United_States_of_American_as_of_March_2015.png). The file says as of March 2015, while the main page says August, because I don’t think anything has since changed. Something changed here in Connecticut just a couple of weeks ago. From [here](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/08/13/connecticut-supreme-court-says-the-death-penalty-is-unconstitutional-banning-it-for-remaining-inmates-on-death-row/): > [@](#): > > The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Thursday [August 13, 2015] that it would be unconstitutional to execute the remaining inmates on the state’s death row, effectively outlawing the death penalty in that state. > > This decision comes three years after Connecticut abolished capital punishment while leaving death sentences intact for inmates already on death row. Lawmakers also kept the death penalty as an option for crimes committed before that 2012 bill was signed into law. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/38-states-allowed-the-death-penalty-in-2002-what-is-the-number-now-what-are-the-sentencing/729108/9 "2015-09-02T13:06:02Z")
> [@robby](#): > > Something changed here in Connecticut just a couple of weeks ago. > > From [here](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/08/13/connecticut-supreme-court-says-the-death-penalty-is-unconstitutional-banning-it-for-remaining-inmates-on-death-row/): Connecticut was already changed on the Wikipedia map, before this thread was even started. Again, the filename is inaccurate. ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/38-states-allowed-the-death-penalty-in-2002-what-is-the-number-now-what-are-the-sentencing/729108/10 "2015-09-03T17:49:46Z")
Thank you all. Very helpful. davidmich