quired on moral grounds, capital punishment is a 100% effective deterrent against crimes of the criminal who's death-sentence is being carried out. In all of human history, not one single executed murderer ever committed another crime. (Washington Post Jan 11 2000) There has been no federal execution in 37 years, what kind of deterrence is this? In 1994, as part of an omnibus crime bill, the federal death penalty was expanded to some 60 different offenses. Among the federal crimes for which people in any state or territory of the U.S. can receive a death sentence are murder of certain government officials, kidnapping resulting in death, murder for hire, fatal drive-by shootings, sexual abuse crimes resulting in death, car jacking resulting in death, and certain crimes not resulting in death, including the running of a large-scale drug enterprise. (Wall Street Journal Dec. 17 1997) What was the point of expanding the federal death sentence to an outwards of 60 offenses if when one of these crimes is committed there is no punishment? Yes, federal capital punishment is important but the federal government does not enforce its laws on capital crime in the same efficient way the states can. There have been 668 state executions since 1976 when the death penalty was reinstated. Of the 3,670 currently on death row, 20 of them are on federal death row.( Bureau of Justice Statistics 2000) There is no possible way the federal courts could try and convict the high number of capital crime offenders. I. State statute can better reflect the geographical areas majorityThe number of federal prosecutions in which an offense punishable by death is charged, and to which special statutory requirements for the appointment and compensation of counsel apply, increased sharply after the 1994 Federal Death Penalty Act increased the number of federal crimes punishable by death. For example 1997 there were 153 prosecutions for murder compared 19,645 prosecutions ...
