"Voluntary" Death Penalty
There have been about 134 "volunteer" executions since 1977. This represents over 11% of all executions.
Death row inmates who drop their right to appeal are often referred to as "volunteers" because they no longer wish to overturn their death sentence. This results in what is sometimes referred to as "state-assisted suicide" or "prisoner-assisted homicide".
» Read the report: Prisoner-assisted homicide -- more 'volunteer' executions loom
What may lead a prisoner not to pursue appeals his or her death sentence?
- Mental or physical illness
- Remorse
- Religious belief
- The severity of conditions of confinement, including prolonged isolation
- The bleak alternative of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole
- Pessimism about appeal prospects
- A quest for notoriety
- A desire to gain a semblance of control over a situation in which he or she is otherwise powerless
© AFP
“A defendant’s voluntary submission to a barbaric punishment does not ameliorate that harm that imposing such a punishment causes to our basic societal values and to the integrity of our system of justice. Certainly a defendant’s consent to being drawn and quartered or burned at the stake would not license the State to exact such punishments.”
-- Whitmore v. Arkansas, US Supreme Court Justice Marshall dissenting, 1990.
| States Where Inmates Have "Volunteered" | Number of "Volunteer" Executions Since 1977 | Percentage of Executions That Were "Voluntary" |
| Connecticut | 1 | 100 |
| Idaho | 1 | 100 |
| New Mexico | 1 | 100 |
| Oregon | 2 | 100 |
| Pennsylvania | 3 | 100 |
| South Dakota | 1 | 100 |
| Nevada | 11 | 92 |
| Washington | 3 | 75 |
| Kentucky | 2 | 67 |
| Utah | 4 | 67 |
| Federal | 1 | 33 |
| Montana | 1 | 33 |
| Delaware | 4 | 29 |
| Indiana | 5 | 26 |
| Ohio | 7 | 22 |
| Maryland | 1 | 20 |
| Tennessee | 1 | 20 |
| South Carolina | 8 | 19 |
| Arizona | 4 | 17 |
| Illinois | 2 | 17 |
| Arkansas | 4 | 15 |
| California | 2 | 15 |
| Florida | 9 | 13 |
| Alabama | 4 | 9 |
| North Carolina | 4 | 9 |
| Oklahoma | 7 | 8 |
| Virginia | 8 | 8 |
| Texas | 29 | 7 |
| Missouri | 4 | 6 |
| Total | 134 | 11% (of 1184) |
