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In the United States, capital punishment—also called the ''death penalty''—is a legal sentence in 31 states and the federal civilian and military legal systems. Its application is limited by the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution to aggravated murders committed by mentally competent adults. Capital punishment was a penalty for many felonies under English common law, and it was enforced in all of the American colonies prior to the Declaration of Independence. The methods of execution and the crimes subject to the death penalty vary by state and have changed over time. The most common method since 1976 has been lethal injection. Since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, thirty-four states have performed executions. In 2014, 35 inmates were executed in the United States, and 3,002 were on death row. States such as Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia, Georgia, and Arizona execute convicted murderers with relative frequency. Texas has performed the most executions by far, and Oklahoma has had (through mid-2011) the highest ''per capita'' execution rate. Alabama has the highest per capita rate of prisoners on death row in the US.〔http://www.phadp.org/?q=node/45〕 However, a number of states have abolished the death penalty, most recently Nebraska in May 2015. ==History== The first recorded death sentence in the British North American colonies was carried out in 1608 on Captain George Kendall, who was executed by firing squad〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Is there a Death Penalty in America? )〕 at the Jamestown colony for allegedly spying for the Spanish government.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=History of the Death Penalty in America )〕 During the American Revolutionary War, British Major John André was hanged by the Continental Army at Tappan, New York on October 2, 1780, after being convicted of espionage.〔Schwarz, Frederic. "(Benedict's Betrayal )" ''American Heritage'', August/September 2005.〕 The ''Espy file'',〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Espy file )〕 compiled by M. Watt Espy and John Ortiz Smykla, lists 15,269 people executed in the United States and its predecessor colonies between 1608 and 1991. From 1930 to 2002, 4,661 executions were carried out in the U.S, about two-thirds of them in the first 20 years.〔(Department of Justice ) of the United States of America〕 Additionally, the United States Army executed 135 soldiers between 1916 and 1955 (the most recent).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The U.S. Military Death Penalty )〕〔John A. Bennett〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Executions in the Military )〕 The largest single execution in United States history was the hanging of 38 American Indians convicted of murder and rape during the Dakota War of 1862. They were executed simultaneously on December 26, 1862, in Mankato, Minnesota. A single blow from an axe cut the rope that held the large four-sided platform, and the prisoners (except for one whose rope had broken and who had to be re-hanged) fell to their deaths.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=The Dakota Conflict Trials of 1862 )〕 The second-largest mass execution was also a hanging: the execution of 13 African-American soldiers for taking part in the Houston Riot of 1917. The largest non-military mass execution occurred in one of the original thirteen colonies in 1723, when 26 convicted pirates were hanged in Newport, Rhode Island by order of the Admiralty Court.〔John T. Brennan, ''Ghosts of Newport: Spirits, Scoundrels, Legends and Lore'' (The History Press, 2007), pg. 15 ()(Retrieved Google Books on July 20, 2009)〕 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 the United States」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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