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The Department of Corrections (DOC) has no position on the death penalty. As an agency responsible for carrying out sentences imposed by the courts, it would be inappropriate to take sides on the issue of capital punishment. Execution List: Current listing of individuals currently sentenced to death. Warrant Listing: Listing of all warrants ...
- History of The Death Penalty
- Timeline
- Famous Cases
- Notable Exonerations
- Milestones in Abolition/Reinstatement
- Other Interesting Facts
Pennsylvania began carrying out executions in the early 1600s in the form of public hangings. In 1834, Pennsylvania became the first state in the U.S. to outlaw public executions and move the gallows to county prisons. In 1913, the state’s capital punishment statute was amended to bring executions under the administration of the state rather than i...
1834 - Pennsylvania becomes the first state to outlaw public executions and move the gallows to county prisons. 1913 - Pennsylvania’s capital punishment statute is amended to bring executions under the administration of the state rather than individual counties. 1913 - Electrocution becomes Pennsylvania’s main method of execution. 1962 - Elmo Smith...
Mumia Abu-Jamal was charged with the 1981 murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner and both the conviction and the subsequent death sentence sparked fierce controversy. Throughout his three-decade stay on Pennsylvania’s death row, Abu-Jamal’s supporters maintained that he is innocent. Organizations including Amnesty International and the City Gover...
Nicholas Yarris was convicted in 1982 for the abduction, rape and murder of a young woman returning home from a day of work at the local mall. DNA evidence was collected at the crime scene but wasn’t the primary evidence in Yarris’ conviction. Multiple eyewitnesses testified to having seen a man resembling Yarris loitering in the vicinity of the sh...
In Commonwealth v. Bradley (1972), the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled the Commonwealth’s death penalty sentencing procedures unconstitutional, implementing the Supreme Court’s decision in Furman v. Georgia. Death row was emptied and sentences were judicially reduced to life. In 1974, overriding Governor Shapp’s veto, the legislature reenacted...
Pennsylvania has the most onerous clemency prerequisites of any state, requiring the five-member Board of Pardons, which includes the Attorney General, the Lt. Governor, a corrections expert, a victim advocate, and a mental health expert, to unanimously recommend clemency before the Governor has the power to consider commutation. It has not granted...
SCI Phoenix is one of two prisons that share Pennsylvania's death row. [10] The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections anticipated that most of the prisoners would be from the area of Philadelphia, and currently SCI Phoenix is the state prison closest to Philadelphia. [11]
Mar 1, 2024 · Mar. 1—SOMERSET, Pa. — Part of Pennsylvania's death row has been relocated to SCI-Somerset, The Tribune-Democrat has learned. Pennsylvania Department of Corrections officials confirmed that 44 state-designated "Capital Case" inmates — more than 40% of the statewide total — were transferred Jan. 17 from SCI-Phoenix because additional space was needed to separate inmates who cannot be ...
- Pennsylvania has not executed anyone since 1999. Philadelphia torture-killer Gary Heidnik was executed by lethal injection at Rockview State Prison in Centre County in July 1999.
- Who is on death row in Pennsylvania? Of the 101 people now awaiting execution in Pennsylvania, 46 are Black, 44 are white, 10 are Hispanic, and one is of Asian descent.
- Does Pennsylvania provide money for capital defense for people who cannot afford it? In 2019, for the first time ever, Pennsylvania set aside public funds for poor defendants facing the death penalty.
- How many people have been exonerated from death row in Pennsylvania? Since 1973, there have been 11 exonerations from Pennsylvania’s death row — five of them since 2019, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
In 2015, the state of Pennsylvania spent about $46 million annually on the death penalty to maintain the prisoners housed on death row, as well as carry out any executions. The average price to house and take care of a death row inmate per year was about $42,000. [ 7 ]
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Feb 24, 2023 · With that context, here are five things to know about the death penalty in Pennsylvania. 1. Pennsylvania has not executed anyone since 1999. Philadelphia torture-killer Gary Heidnik was executed by lethal injection at Rockview State Prison in Centre County in July 1999. His remains were cremated by the state.
