Advocates of Capital Punishment began to suggest new statutes regarding what they believed could stop arbitrariness in capital punishment. Florida was the first to rewrite its statutes, only taking three months to do so. Then following were thirty-four other states that went on to rewrite new death penalty statutes also. Other states wanted to limit the sentencing guidelines for the judge and jury when deciding to inflict death or not. Finally, on January 17, 1977, the death penalty was back in business with the execution of Gary Gilmore; however, he did not challenge the death sentence. Capital punishment has gone through many changes over the years in the United States of America.
There are lots of statistics on the Capital Punishment in America. When people are asked if they supported the death penalty, eighty percent say they do. It cost about $3.2 million dollars for each death row inmate, compared to about $535,000 for the average life sentence of forty years for a prisoner (Cabana). Other statistics are based on race. A black man who murders a white person is 11 times more likely to be sentenced to the death penalty than a white person who kills a black man (Cabana). However, blacks who kill blacks have even less to worry about it is kind of like people say "Oh, well, he needed a killing anyhow" (Cabana). Between the years of 1973 and 1993, 48 people were released from death row because they were found to be innocent due to a Congressional subcommittee on civil and constitutional rights. One example of a state that is often known for the death penalty is Texas. In 1991, blacks made up 12 percent of the population, but 48 percent of the prison population and 55.5 percent of people on death row are black (NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund). These are the most recent statistics on the Capital Punishment in the United States of America. .
The churches" and people's views are very different when it comes to Capital Punishment.
