‘Trends in the Use of Capital Punishment’—Revisited: A Tribute to Professor Frank E. Hartung

Abstract

In 1952, Professor Frank E. Hartung recognized several trends in capital punishment suggesting a movement away from its use in the USA including abolition of the penalty, reduction in capital offenses, permissive death sentences, reduction in the number of executions, selective enforcement of the death penalty, private executions, and swift and painless executions. Hartung’s observations on the use of capital punishment were remarkably insightful given the infancy of death penalty research at the time. The present work reviews Hartung’s observations, adds to his observations using more current death penalty inventories, and supplements Hartung’s concerns with the most recent research findings. The research record on capital sentencing in the USA reveals that Professor Hartung’s early observations remain strikingly relevant more than a half‐century later.