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death penalty

The death penalty—also known as capital punishment—refers to the process of state and federal courts sentencing persons convicted of the most serious criminal offenses (capital offenses or capital crimes) to death. The specific crimes and circumstances for which the death penalty is a potential punishment (usually murder) are defined by state and federal statutes enacted by state legislatures and the United States Congress, respectively.

These death penalty or capital punishment statutes are often located in the penal or criminal code, and often in the same statute that defines a criminal offense such as murder. Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia do not have the death penalty as a potential punishment for any criminal offense.

In the state of Alaska, the death penalty is not a legal form of punishment. Alaska abolished capital punishment in 1957, before it became a state in 1959. Since then, Alaska has not reinstated the death penalty and does not have any statutes that allow for capital punishment for any criminal offense, including murder. This makes Alaska one of the twenty-two states, along with the District of Columbia, that do not have the death penalty as a potential punishment for any criminal offense. Therefore, regardless of the severity of the crime, courts in Alaska do not have the authority to sentence a person to death.

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Criminal procedure

death penalty

Individual & Family Legal Plan

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Alaska State Code

Alaska State Code

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Criminal procedure

death penalty