Talk:List of people executed in the United States in 2015

Offense
I think it would be useful to add a column about the offence committed, from an encyclopedia standpoint, this is more important than race in my opinion for example. Amqui (talk) 04:38, 17 June 2015 (UTC)


 * Interesting comment. But, why do you feel that "offense" would be interesting?  Literally every single entry would say "murder".  For all practical purposes, there is no other offense that will warrant a death penalty (much less, an actual execution).  If you had a list of 1,000 entries, then 999 of them would say "murder" and maybe 1 would say "treason" or "espionage" or "train-wrecking", etc.  I think race is far more interesting than offense.  With race, we can see the discrepancy and/or disparity.  A column labeled "offense" would tell us nothing at all.  It's a "given" that these are all murderers.  Please clarify what you mean.  Thanks.   Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:04, 19 June 2015 (UTC)


 * For example, see this article: Capital punishment in Washington state. On that list, there are 79 entries.  Every single one is for "murder", except for one that states "kidnapping and assault".  That unique case (kidnapping and assault) was in 1940.  Since then, the Supreme Court has ruled that the death penalty can only be used in murder cases (i.e., where the victim dies).  So, a list from 2015 – such as this one – can only contain "murder" as the offense being punished.    Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:11, 19 June 2015 (UTC)


 * See the US Supreme Court case of Kennedy v. Louisiana, from 2008. Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407 (2008), was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that held that the Eighth Amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause did not permit a state to punish the crime of rape of a child with the death penalty; more broadly, the power of the state to impose the death penalty against an individual for committing a crime that did not result in the death of the victim is now limited to crimes against the state (e.g., espionage, treason).   Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:21, 19 June 2015 (UTC)