Illegal Convictions and Sentences to Capital Punishment

Abstract

The paper examines the prevalence of illegal capital convictions and sentences to death in the United States, from 1976 to 1992. Data are analyzed from all capital convictions and sentences to death row during this period, using information from the death row imprisonment file in the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data, collected by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and used by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in their annual capital punishment research notes. Data are available on over 6,000 offenders sentenced to death row during this period. The findings show that more than 40 percent of all original capital convictions or sentences are overturned as illegal—either in the conviction for the crime, the capital sentence, or for illegal elements in the capital statutes. Considerable variation exists between states in the proportion of illegal convictions and sentences. In some states, all of the capital cases were overturned during this period as illegal convictions or sentences. In 18 states more than half of all capital cases are legally defective. The discussion raises questions regarding the problematic results of capital convictions and sentences.