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Capital punishment in Mississippi is legal and practiced by lethal injection. Currently executions occur at the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) Mississippi State Penitentiary (MSP, also known as "Parchman") in Sunflower County, Mississippi.〔"(Media Kit Joseph D. Burns )." Mississippi Department of Corrections. 5/8. Retrieved on November 6, 2010.〕 Men on death row are held at Unit 29 in MSP, while women on death row are held at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (CMCF) in Rankin County, Mississippi.〔"(State Prisons )." Mississippi Department of Corrections. Retrieved on January 14, 2011.〕 ==History== The State of Mississippi used hanging as its method of execution for much of its history.〔 From the earliest recorded execution in 1818 through 2004, records indicate that the state executed a total of 794 people. Of these, the great majority were black males, who account for 639 of recorded executions.〔 Around the time of the 1901 opening of the Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman Farm), Sunflower County residents objected to having executions performed at MSP because they feared that Sunflower County would be stigmatized as a "death county." Therefore the State of Mississippi originally performed executions of condemned criminals in their counties of conviction.〔Cabana, Donald A. "(The History of Capital Punishment in Mississippi: An Overview )." ''Mississippi History Now''. Mississippi Historical Society. Retrieved on August 16, 2010.〕 When, in 1940, Mississippi's state legislature decided to change the state's method of execution to electrocution, while continuing to conduct executions in the county of conviction, a portable electric chair was developed and fabricated for the state's use.〔 On October 11, 1940, the state's first execution of a condemned prisoner by electrocution occurred; Hilton Fortenberry was electrocuted in his county of conviction, Jefferson Davis County. The state moved the electric chair from county to county, using it to kill condemned prisoners in their counties of conviction.〔 Mississippi and Louisiana were the only U.S. states to use a portable electric chairs.〔 Around the 1950s residents of Sunflower County were still opposed to the concept of housing the execution chamber at MSP. In September 1954, Governor Hugh L. White called for a special session of the Mississippi Legislature to discuss the application of the death penalty.〔 During that year, a gas chamber serving as an execution chamber was installed at MSP. The gas chamber replaced the portable electric chair which, between 1940 and February 5, 1952, had been moved from county to county to execute condemned prisoners. The first person to die in the gas chamber was Gearald A. Gallego, who was executed on March 3, 1955.〔"(Mississippi and the Death Penalty )." Mississippi Department of Corrections. Retrieved on August 12, 2010.〕 On July 1, 1984 the Legislature of Mississippi amended §§ 99-19-51 of the Mississippi Code; the new amendment stated that prisoners who committed capital crimes after July 1, 1984 would be executed by lethal injection.〔 When the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (CMCF) opened in January 1986, all women who were incarcerated at MSP were moved to CMCF.〔"(A Brief History of the Mississippi Department of Corrections )." Mississippi Department of Corrections. Retrieved on July 21, 2010.〕 The $41 million Unit 32, the state's designated location for male death row inmates, opened in August 1990.〔〔"(Prison won't cure overcrowding )." ''The Advocate''. September 18, 1990. Retrieved on August 9, 2010. "Hard-core Mississippi prisoners will be housed in a $41 million prison complex that opened last month, but the facility won't come close to providing room for all state inmates, officials say. The complex, called Unit 32, adds more than 15 times the current maximum-security bed space, but it's still not enough."〕 Previously Unit 17 housed Parchman's male death row.〔Straziuso, Jason. "(Miss. prepares chamber for 1st execution since '89 )." ''The Advocate''. July 14, 2002. News 10B. Retrieved on August 13, 2010. "The execution chamber is lodged in the back of Unit 17 on the Parchman campus. The unit once housed all death row inmates, but its 56 beds are no longer"〕 On March 18, 1998 the legislature made another amendment, removing the gas chamber as a method of execution.〔 The lethal injection table was first used in 2002.〔 Since 1976, Mississippi has executed fewer prisoners than six other southern states despite comparable homicide rates. As of March 2013, 21 inmates were executed after 1976. One critic claims that this stems from the inability of poorer counties to afford legal fees for defendants accused of capital crimes. Because death penalty cases are subject to a high standard of review—and there is a constitutional requirement for effective assistance of counsel as a matter of Due process of law and subsequent appellate review—this has led to a practical and constitutional impediment to its efficient operations.〔 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 Mississippi」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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