The Death Penalty in the United States Margaret Griffey and Laurence E. Rothenberg27 The application of the death penalty in the United States – and continuing opposition to it – are the results of the robust American democratic process. The interaction between public opinion, elected representatives of the public in the federal and state legislatures, law enforcement and prosecutorial authorities, and the independent judiciary at both the state and federal level has created a system of capital practice and jurisprudence that implements the public’s desire for just punishment of murderers while protecting the rights of the accused. Public Support The United States federal government and 37 of the 50 state governments allow juries the option of assessing a death sentence for offences that result in the victim’s death.28 The offender must have a high degree of culpability with respect to the victim’s death, and other aggravating factors must also be present, such as multiple victims, a child victim, rape along with the murder, or particular cruelty in the commission of the killing. Public support for the death penalty remains high. According to a Gallup poll released on 1 June 2006, 65 per cent of Americans favour the death penalty for a person convicted of murder. When asked whether the death penalty or a life sentence with “absolutely no possibility of parole” is a better penalty for murder, Americans are evenly divided. However, it should be noted that the Gallup poll questions solicited opinions with reference to murders generally, not the narrowed class of aggravated offences for which death is a potential punishment. As a consequence, the results of the poll may understate actual support for the death penalty for the worst offences. For example, contemporaneous polls indicated that 75 per cent of the American public 27 Margaret Griffey is Chief, Capital Case Unit, US Department of Justice. Laurence E. Rothenberg is Senior Counsel, Office of Legal Policy, US Department of Justice. The opinions in this article are those solely of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the US government or the US Department of Justice. 28 In addition, death is designated by federal statute for certain treason, espionage, and large-scale drug offences that do not result in death, although the death penalty has not been sought for an espionage or treason offence in more than five decades and has never been sought in connection with a large-scale drug offence unrelated to a homicide. 35