Death Penalty USA: 2007 - 2008

On September 25, 2007, the Supreme Court of the United States decided to review whether legal injection is cruel and unusual punishment and in so doing imposed a near seventh month de facto moratorium on executions. By the time the Court made its ruling the state of New Jersey had banned all forms of capital punishment and the state of Nebraska had ruled that its only form of execution was cruel and unusual. Nonetheless, the people of the United States managed to execute 79 men during the years 2007 and 2008. Among those executed were nine who volunteered to be put to death including two who chose electrocution as their form of punishment. Described herein are the gruesome details of all 79 capital crimes and their prosecution by the State providing insight into the notion of whether the death penalty serves its stated purpose of deterring murder and garnering retribution for its victims.