NPS-8B Status of Death Penalty Statutes - No Statutes In Forced

NPS-8B
GOVS – Criminal Justice
Statistics Branch
RETURN NPS-8
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU
TO
4600 Silver Hill Rd – 6K060C
Washington, DC 20233-6800

NPS-8B

FORM
(8-2-2012)

OMB No. 1121-0030: Approval Expires xx/xx/xxxx
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

STATUS OF
BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS
and ACTING AS COLLECTING AGENT
DEATH PENALTY STATUTES
OF COMMERCE
NO STATUTE IN FORCE, 2011 U.S. DEPARTMENT
Economics and Statistics Administration
National Prisoner Statistics
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU
2012

(Please correct any error in name, mailing address, and ZIP Code)

DATA SUPPLIED BY
Name

Title
Area code Number

Extension

TELEPHONE

FAX
NUMBER

Area code Number

Date completed

E-MAIL
ADDRESS

GENERAL INFORMATION

• If you need assistance in completing the questionnaire, please call Beth Davis,
U.S. Census Bureau, toll-free at 1–800–253–2078.
• Please mail your completed questionnaire to the U.S. Census Bureau in the enclosed
envelope before February 1, 2013, or FAX both sides to 1–888–891–2099.

Who receives this form?
This form is sent to jurisdictions that had no capital statute in effect on December 31, 2011.
What information is collected?
Items on the reverse side of this form relate to death penalty statutes in your jurisdiction during
the period January 1, 2012, through December 31, 2012.
Burden statement
Under the Paperwork Reduction Act, we cannot ask you to respond to a collection of information
unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Public reporting burden for this collection
of information is estimated to average 15 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing
instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and
completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden
estimate or any other aspects of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing
this burden, to the Director, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Washington, DC 20531; and to the Office
of Management and Budget, OMB No. 1121-0030, Washington, DC 20503.

1. National Prisoner Statistics (NPS) records
show that at the end of 2011 your State had
NO CAPITAL PUNISHMENT STATUTE. At any
time in 2012 was such a law established?
01
02

No – Go to Question 4
Yes

4. As of December 31, 2012, does your State
CONSTITUTION specifically prohibit capital
penalties?
01
02

No
Yes
Date

Effective date

Citation
Citation

Please provide a copy of the law.

5. As of December 31, 2012, your State –
01

2. During 2012, was that law explicitly struck
by the U.S. or State Supreme Court?
01

No – Go to Question 5
Yes

02

Had no capital punishment statute – STOP HERE
and return form.
Had a capital punishment statute

6. For what offenses can the death penalty be
imposed in your State?

Wholly struck
By U.S. Supreme Court
03
By State Supreme Court
02

Partially struck
04
By U.S. Supreme Court
By State Supreme Court
05
Effective date

7. Does your State provide for automatic
appeal upon imposition of the death penalty,
irrespective of the defendant’s wishes?
01

Citation

Please provide a copy of the law.

02

No
Yes

8. What methods of execution are authorized in
your capital punishment statute?
Mark (X) all that apply.
01

3. In the opinion of the Attorney General, what
was the impact on persons sentenced under
your State’s statute?

02
03
04

01

All were effectively removed from under sentence of death
as of the decision date; that is, legally these persons could
not be executed under that sentence.

02

None were effectively removed from under sentence of
death as of the decision date; that is, legally these persons
could still possibly be executed under that sentence.

03

Some were effectively removed from under sentence of
death as of the decision date while others were not; that is,
legally some could still possibly be executed under that
sentence while others could not.

Page 2

05
06

Lethal injection
Electrocution
Lethal gas
Hanging
Firing squad
Other – Specify

FORM NPS-8B (8-2-2012)