An eye for an eye?

An eye for an eye? BY BONNIE BERKOWITZ, DAN KEATING AND RICHARD JOHNSON The botched execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma on April 29 has reignited debate over the death penalty and prompted President Obama to request a review of how it is applied. Obama cited "significant problems – racial bias, uneven application... individuals on death row who later on were discovered to have been innocent because of exculpatory evidence." Here is a breakdown of the 1,379 people – responsible for killing more than 2,074 – who have been put to death in the United States since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Most cases involved torture, rape or another felony; Lockett shot a teenager and ordered an accomplice to bury her alive. The executed The victims 1977 1979 t1 2 By year of murderer's cxecution, not year when they were killed Thirty-four percent (474) of those executed were This chart depicts the 2,074 murders for which people have been executed since 1976, but the 1981 black, while blacks make up 13 percent of the U.S. population. Fifty-six percent (771) were white, 211 1982 actual number of victims killed is much compared with 63 percent of the population. higher. That's because a person sentenced to 1983 Eight percent (110) were Hispanic, compared with death in multiple cases is officially executed in only 17 percent of the population. And 2 percent (24) 21 1in 111IN one. Also, prosecutors often decline to try additional cases after a death sentence is handed 1984 were Asian, Native American or another race. 18 1 II IIMIE i 1985 1 tiR MIA I 30 Three-quarters of the victims were white. down. For example, D.C. area sniper John Allen Muhammad was officially executed in 2009 for the 18 I 1I1 1 iltatLiti I IR 18 1986 murder of Dean H. Meyers of Gaithersburg, I WHITE 1 BLACK HISPANIC I OTHER* 25 |1 1IN Hi1 MINIE IN 1987 tAt 1411IRIRI EIIIR It 25 although he and teenage accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo killed nine other people in the area in 2002 *Other includes Asian, Native American and other 1988 Ai14I 19 and were linked to more murders around the 16 1 ttin HII HIMIMt i nA 16 1989 country. Serial killer Ted Bundy was officially 1977: The first person put to death after the reinstatement of capital punishment 23 t H ImtI 1990 MIMI IMILIIRI RIL AEBRERA HIME * 40 executed for killing 12-year-old Kimberly Leach of Florida, but he was convicted of three murders and was Gary Gilmore, by firing squad in Utah. Gilmore was convicted of killing a gas 14 11 I1 Hit IRI MI t 17 1991 is widely assumed to have committed many more. station attendant and a motel clerk during 31 1 HIINI ItinIt inBiRin 1992 HI IIMIMMA1IARIRI 1 IIR I 1140 robberies a day apart in 1976 and was executed for the second murder. He refused all efforts to mitigate his sentence, 1994: John Wayne Gacy was executed for 12 of the 33 boys and young men 1993 he molested and murdered in and his last words were, "Let's do it." 31 11 iNA INI 1994 MIIRIWINM II IMn E | 45 suburban Chicago in the 1970s. 1995 1411IRIIRRKIMIERI MASIME IIMIIH KAPAIR4 71 45 1111n itR IRIMA IImt I 1996 HININII 141MRIMIIMIH 1M1EIR1 1AAAAELA 1ARMIRAIHI MI AI 71 1997 州 件 4 性 性 t t 會 41 种 的 的 主 身 生 被 iim w 件 体 ttt 性 经 4 ! 97 1998 tt 11141MRIMIEH 1M1lli ALIRAIRINII IR #iIM t 94 98 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 MII 1411 tHIAERI MIIAti141t HI t1 74 2005 2006 1999: A record 98 people 42 IMIt IIn tit A IMIM 2007 were executed this year in 20 states as a backlog of cases was cleared by expedited federal and state appeals 2008 2001: This total includes the 168 people, 19 of them children, killed by Timothy 2009 processes. 46 | MI IRIM II IN HIRIA HILIMin 201o McVeigh when he bombed the federal building in 2014: Twenty people have been put 2011 HIMIINIt IMIMiRt HiMt tt 1 62 to death this year in Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Missouri and Ohio. As of Oklahoma City in 1995. McVeigh was one of three 43 H11t tt INH ItR 2012 October 2013, more than 3,000 people executed by the U.S. people were on death row in 35 states, according to an NAACP report. 2013 111tt Lit41LIIRI RI1ALARIRA MIIRA HIR LINERIT t t | 54 government rather than a state court since 1977. 20 H11 I MNIRI RILALt t til 1 24 2014 Breaking down U.S. executions BY METHOD BY AGE BY GENDER BY REGION The most common has been lethal injection of Age at the time of execution has ranged from Three women were executed in 2001, the most Texas (515), Oklahoma (111) and Virginia (110) one, two or three drugs, some of which are in short supply after European drugmakers stopped 22 to 77. Twenty-two people were executed for since the death penalty was reinstated. All were have accounted for more than half of all U.S. crimes commited before they were 18. In 2005, in Oklahoma: Wanda Jean Allen killed her executions. Colorado, Connecticut, New Mexico exports. Many appeals and stays have hinged on the Supreme Court banned executions for girlfriend; Marilyn Plantz hired men to kill her and Wyoming have executed one person each. The federal government has executed three. whether alternatives are reliable and humane. crimes committed by juveniles. husband; Lois Smith killed her son's ex-girlfriend. I Electrocution I Lethal injection 1,204 I Firing squad I Gas chamber Hanging I South I Midwest I West I North 158 I 20s 123 Men 1,365 1,123 100 | 30s 547 I Women 14 165 I 40s I 50s 1 60s+ 455 84 11 195 59 Federal 3 80 South: Ala. Ark. Del. Fla.. Ga. Ky., La, Md., Miss., N.C., Okla., S.C., Tenn, Texas, Va. Midwest ., Ind., Mo., Neb., Ohio, S.D. West Ariz, Calr., Colo., Idaho, Mont, NM., Nev. Ore. Utah, Wash., Wyo. 60 North: Conn., Pa 60 40 20 T1980 1980 1990 2000 2010 1980 1990 2000 2010 1980 1990 | 2000 2010 1990 | 2000 |2010 Sources: Death Penalty Information Center, Washington Post archives and other published reports,; "Death Row USA," by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; U.S. Census Bureau