death_penalty_new.qxd 02-08-27 12:57 Page 54 THE DEATH PENALTY IN THE OSCE AREA 4.16 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA)208 RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS International Instruments Signed Ratified Article 6 of the ICCPR Yes Yes (with reservation)209 Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR No No Article 37 (a) of the CRC Yes No Article 4 of the American Convention on Human Rights Yes No LEGAL FRAMEWORK Status: Retentionist Scope: The death penalty is a legal punishment for crimes committed in peacetime and in wartime. The death penalty is retained at the federal and at the State level210. At the federal level, the death penalty is envisaged for 55 crimes in the United States Code211. At the State level, the death penalty is retained in 38 of the 50 States of the USA. All of the 38 States envisage the death penalty for murder and in practice the death penalty is most often applied for murder in aggravating circumstances212. 208 209 210 211 212 The Delegation of the United States of America to the OSCE did not complete the questionnaire. The USA made a reservation to Article 6 of the ICCPR to the effect, ‘That the United States reserves the right, subject to its constitutional constraints, to impose capital punishment on any person (other than a pregnant woman) duly convicted under existing or future laws permitting the imposition of capital punishment, including such punishment for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age.’ The death penalty is also retained for 15 crimes in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 31 May 1951. Capital punishment: An overview of federal death penalty statutes, E. Bazan, Congressional Research Service, 9 May 2001. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 envisages the death penalty for murder in the course of a drug kingpin conspiracy. The scope of crimes that carry the death penalty was later expanded by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 and the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. In 12 of the States that retain the death penalty, murder is not the sole capital crime. www.deathpenaltyinfo.org 54