A British man has just been arrested on an extradition warrant in the U.K. for the murders of his wife and child in the U.S. Will the existence of the death penalty in the U.S. play any role in the extradition proceedings? Please explain why or why not.

gmackematix

Isn't he likely to be extradited to Massachussetts, where there is no death penalty? Feb 09 06, 5:21 PM

lanfranco

Exactly right, gmack. Massachusetts is one of 12 U.S. states that do not have the death penalty. The required sentence for a first-degree murder conviction is life in prison without parole. The extradition proceedings in the Neil Entwistle case may be long and complex, but they will not involve the death penalty. Certain other states have the death penalty but have not executed anyone in many years -- New Jersey and Kansas among them. This site includes a state-by-state record since 1976: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_States Feb 09 06, 5:34 PM

gmackematix

Is there a strong correlation between Republican states and those that make most use of the death penalty? Feb 09 06, 7:48 PM

lanfranco

Roughly speaking, yes, though Kansas is a "red state." Nothing about the death penalty in the U.S. is graven in stone. Except maybe in Texas. You can use this site to make a comparison with the death penalty figures in the site I originally posted: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_state Feb 09 06, 8:04 PM

xfacilitatorx

Apparently not! Feb 23 06, 7:39 AM