The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society”. This principle, it said, requires that the use of the death penalty be “reserved for the worst of crimes and limited in its instances of application”. The Court went on to state that the “[d]ifficulties in administering the penalty to ensure against its arbitrary and capricious application require adherence to a rule reserving its use, at this stage of evolving standards and in cases of crimes against individuals, for crimes that take the life of the victim”.87 While no individual has been executed in the United States for a non-death-related offense since the death penalty’s reinstatement in 1976, several jurisdictions still retain capital punishment for such crimes: Arkansas (treason); California (sabotage, treason); Colorado (treason, aggravated kidnapping); Florida (capital drug trafficking, capital sexual battery); Georgia (aircraft hijacking, treason); Idaho (aggravated kidnapping); Kentucky (kidnapping with aggravating factors); Louisiana (treason); Mississippi (aircraft piracy, treason); Missouri (treason, aggravated kidnapping, drug trafficking, aircraft hijacking, placing a bomb near a bus terminal); Montana (aggravated sexual intercourse without consent, aggravated kidnapping); Washington (treason); Federal (espionage, treason, drug trafficking, attempting to kill an officer, juror or witness in a continuing criminal investigation). There are 14 offenses for which a military service member may receive the death penalty, many of which must occur during wartime.88 The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution bar the execution of offenders who were under 18 years of age when the crime was committed.89 It has also prohibited, under the Eighth Amendment, the execution of death row inmates who are considered to be “insane” or “mentally retarded”.90 The United States’ response to ODIHR’s questionnaire stated that the Federal Government maintains a system for carefully examining each potential federal death penalty case, without consideration of the defendant’s “race”, to ensure that the federal death penalty is sought in a fair, uniform and non-discriminatory manner nationwide. The law provides for “the appointment of highly qualified counsel to represent federal capital defendants at all stages of a capital prosecution, from indictment 87  Emphasis added. 88  Response to the ODIHR questionnaire on the death penalty from the Permanent Delegation of the United States of America to the OSCE, 24 August 2012, (U.S. Response). 89  Roper v Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005), as cited by, Cornell University Law School Legal Information Institute, <http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-633.ZS.html>. 90  Ford v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 399 (1986), as cited by, Cornell University Law School Legal Information Institute, <http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0477_0399_ZS.html>; Atkins v Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002), as cited by, Cornell University Law School Legal Information Institute, < http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/ html/00-8452.ZS.html>. 18

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