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Capital punishment is legal in Alabama, as it is in most U.S. states. Capital punishment dates back to 1812, when present-day Alabama was still part of the Mississippi Territory. Alabama has the highest per capita death penalty rate in the country. In some years, it imposes more death sentences than Texas, a state with a population five times as large.〔http://www.npr.org/2014/07/25/335418230/with-judges-overriding-death-penalty-cases-alabama-is-an-outlier〕 Intentional murder with any of 18 aggravating factors can be charged as capital murder. Alabama is the only state in which judges routinely override the jury's decision not to impose the death penalty.〔 Delaware and Florida also allow for judge override,〔 however it has only been applied reversing the death penalty, not imposing it. This practice is no longer constitutionally permissible since the United States Supreme Court expressly prohibited it in ''Ring v. Arizona'', 536 U.S. 584 (2002), but nearly 100 have been sentenced to death in Alabama since 1976 as a result of a judicial sentencing override. Executions are carried out at the Holman Correctional Facility, near Atmore, Alabama. Fifty-one people have been executed by the state of Alabama since 1983 (24 by electrocution and 27 by lethal injection). As of 2014, Alabama has 197 inmates on death row, the 4th highest number in the US.〔http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/node/5708〕 As in any other state, people who are under 18 at the time of commission of the capital crime〔Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005)〕 or are mentally retarded〔Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002)〕 are nationally exempt from execution. The Governor of Alabama has the authority to grant a commutation of sentence in capital (as well as non-capital) cases. There has been only one commutation of a death sentence since 1976: Judith Ann Neelley's death sentence was commuted to life in prison by outgoing Governor Fob James in January 1999.〔 ==History== Between 1812 and 1965, 708 people were executed in Alabama; 18 were women. Until 1927, hanging was the primary method of execution, although one person was shot. In addition to murder, capital crimes in Alabama formerly included rape, arson, and robbery.〔(Alabama Executions, 1812-1965 ).〕 According to the Alabama Department of Corrections, 31 people were executed by the state for crimes other than murder - including rape, robbery and burglary - between 1927 and 1959; 29 of them were black.〔(Inmates Executed in Alabama ).〕 The U.S. Supreme Court has essentially eliminated the death penalty for any crime at the state level except murder in ''Kennedy v. Louisiana'', 554 U.S. 407 (2008). The 1972 U.S. Supreme Court case Furman v. Georgia, requiring a degree of consistency in the application of the death penalty, established a ''de facto'' moratorium on capital punishment across the United States. That moratorium remained until July 2, 1976, when Gregg v. Georgia decided how states could impose death sentences without violating the Eighth Amendment's ban against cruel and unusual punishment. The death penalty in Alabama was reinstated on March 25, 1976, when Alabama's legislature passed, and Governor George Wallace signed, a new death penalty statute. No execution was carried out until 1983. Holman Correctional Facility has a male death row that originally had a capacity of 20, but was expanded in the summer of 2000.〔"(Annual Report Fiscal Year 2003 )." Alabama Department of Corrections. 33/84. Retrieved on August 15, 2010. "which also included a cellblock for 20 death row inmates." and "The death chamber is located at Holman where all executions are conducted." and "A major addition was completed in the summer of 2000 to add 200 single cells to the segregation unit. This addition was required to keep up with the increasing number of inmates on Death Row which had grown to more than 150."〕 The William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility has a male death row with a capacity of 24.〔"(Annual Report Fiscal Year 2003 )." Alabama Department of Corrections. 21/84. Retrieved on August 15, 2010. "Donaldson has a death row unit with a capacity of 24 inmates."〕 Donaldson's death row houses prisoners who need to stay in the Birmingham judicial district.〔"(Donaldson Correctional Facility )." Alabama Department of Corrections. Retrieved on October 8, 2010.〕 Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women houses the female death row.〔"(Annual Report Fiscal Year 2003 )." Alabama Department of Corrections. 45/84. Retrieved on August 15, 2010. "Tutwiler also has a death row,"〕 All executions occur at Holman.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Capital punishment in Alabama」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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