The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area accordance with paragraph 5 of Article 175 of the Penal Code, which states that the bodies of the executed are not to be returned to relatives and the place of burial shall remain undisclosed.72 At the time of writing, the bodies of the five men had not been returned to their families and the places of burial had not been disclosed.73 UNITED STATES In the United States, there is no prohibition on the death penalty. Currently, the Federal Government, 33 states and the military allow this form of punishment. According to a recent survey by Gallup, 58 per cent of Americans felt that the death penalty was morally acceptable; the figure marked the lowest approval rating for capital punishment since the survey was first conducted 12 years ago. In general, support for the death penalty has fallen below 50 per cent when the public were offered alternative sanctions.74 In December 2011, the Death Penalty Information Center reported that the number of new death sentences nationally fell sharply in the course of the same year, dropping below 100 for the first time since the death penalty was reintroduced in 1976. Connecticut abolished the death penalty for all crimes on 25 April 2012. This applies to all future cases and not to the 11 prisoners on death row at the time of the announcement. Moreover, California announced its decision to hold a referendum to determine whether life imprisonment without parole should replace the death penalty. The referendum is scheduled to take place in November 2012. The decision would be applied to the 700 inmates at the time of the announcement. New Mexico and New Jersey saw attempts to reinstate the death penalty. Attempts were also made to expand the scope of crimes to which the death penalty currently applies, for instance in Virginia and South Carolina.75 In other states, steps were taken to repeal the death penalty, with measures being proposed in Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Nebraska and Washington. At the time of writing, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania were reviewing their death penalty laws. 72  “Relatives of the executed demand amendments to Belarusian Penal Code”, Human Rights House, 14 May 2012, <http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/18025.html>. 73  “Death sentences and executions 2011”, Amnesty International Report, March 2012, <http://www.amnestyusa.org/ sites/default/files/ai_global_dp_2011_stats_report-_act500012012en.pdf>. (Amnesty International 2011) 74  In 2010, Gallup asked which is better punishment for murder: the death penalty or life in prison without parole. Fourty-nine per cent chose the death penalty, while 46 per cent chose life without parole. 75  Details of legislative activity during 2011 and 2012, concerning the death penalty in the United States can be found at “Recent Legislative Activity”, Death Penalty Information Center, 2012, <http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/recentlegislative-activity>. 15