The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia.38 The United States Code identifies 42 crimes (38 homicide and four non-homicide) for which the death penalty may be used. The crimes that carry the death penalty vary from state to state. Capital punishment is generally permitted for the crimes of murder or felony murder, and generally only when aggravating circumstances are present in the commission of the crime, e.g., if there are multiple victims, if a victim was raped, or if a murder was a contract killing.39 On 25 June 2008, the Supreme Court outlawed the use of the death penalty for people convicted of raping a child where the crime did not result, and was not intended to result, in the victim’s death.40 The case was a review of a 2007 Louisiana Supreme Court decision that upheld a death sentence for someone who had raped his stepdaughter. The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) provides for the death penalty as a possible punishment for 15 offences, many of which must occur during a time of war. The death penalty may be imposed in accordance with the military order establishing military commissions to prosecute individuals currently detained at Guantanamo Bay.41 On 29 June 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that the military commissions were illegal under both military law and the Geneva Conventions.42 The US Government announced in February 2007 that it intended to seek the death penalty for five men on trial for crimes committed on 11 September 2001.43 Abolition bills remain under consideration in Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, and Kentucky. California, Maryland, North Carolina, and Tennessee have initiated legislative death-penalty studies.44 In 2007, South Dakota carried out its first execution since 1947.45 38  Response of the United States Mission to the OSCE to ODIHR’s questionnaire on the death penalty, 28 July 2008. 39  A complete list of capital crimes can be found at <http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org>. 40  US response, op. cit., note 38; see Kennedy v. Louisiana, United States Supreme Court, 25 June 2008. 41  Military Commission Order No. 1, “Procedures for trials by military commissions of certain nonUnited States citizens in the war against terrorism”, 21 March 2002, Part 6 (g). 42  See Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, United States Supreme Court, 29 June 2006. 43  “Guantánamo Military Commission Hearings Resume”, Amnesty International, 9 July 2008, <http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/guant%C3%A1namo-military-commissionhearings-resume-20080709>; “USA: Way of Life, Way of Death: Capital Charges Referred against Five Former Secret Detainees”, Amnesty International, 20 May 2008 <http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ AMR51/041/2008/en>; “USA: Execution Sought for Six Detainees in 9/11 Attacks”, Hands Off Cain website, 11 February 2008, <http://www.handsoffcain.info/news/index.php?iddocumento=10302712>. 44  “First Execution in Seven Months Raises Many Concerns”, Death Penalty Information Center website, 6 May 2008, <http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/newsanddev.php?scid=6>. 45  See the chapter on the United States in Amnesty International Report 2008, Amnesty International, op. cit., note 15, <http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/regions/americas/usa>. 8