Questions tagged [death-penalty]

Has there ever been a case of the death penalty being given in the USA to a child? Is this currently legal? Has it always been legal, or has this recently changed? What are SCOTUS's views on the matter?

Seeing as the President is the leader of the federal government does he have the right to abolish capital punishment in federal cases? Could this be done without an constitutional amendment?

Can the death penalty be given as a sentence if not requested by the prosecutor? Or does prosecutorial discretion entitle the prosecutor to choose not to request the death penalty even if the law allows it?

Let's say you have a family member murdered in a state that has the death penalty. If you think that the death penalty for people who don't believe in an afterlife is too much of a merciful punishment, can you request that the perpetrator rather get…