Is the Death Penalty Still Alive?

If so, for whom?

In a time of political mistrust, the debate over capital punishment is still brewing. With historical data, I hope to reveal the prevalence of capital punishment over time and any biases skewing the results. The data set is large, with over 15,000 executions occurring over almost 400 years, and ranging from firing squads in colonial Jamestown, all the way to the massive media controversies facing the early 2000s.

The scope of this study covers a lot of history, and even more legislature. I am interested to understand the trends in capital punishment over time and how these changes correlate with pivotal events in our human history.

The Focus

To explore this relationship, I will be utilizing data from Executions in the United States, 1608-2002: The ESPY File. This data was collected in partnership with the National Science Federation and the United States Department of Justice. Seeing as the United States, as we know it, did not exist until 1776, the data includes earlier executions in any territories that would later became states.

Key Variables Include:

Analytical Approach

My proposed approach is to first plot the variables of interest by year. These graphs will help to shed light on any biases in the capital punishment system and how changes in legislature through the years has affected the number or method of executions.

I will then take a closer look at the years showing major shifts. The goal here would be to see if I can isolate an event, political or otherwise, that might help explain the results.

Mission

This analysis is intended to help consumers form an opinion on capital punishment based on sound data. The issue has been hotly contested for hundreds of years, meaning there is no shortage of op-ed pieces littering the internet. I hope that my analysis can help consumers, including myself, gain a clearer understanding of capital punishment, without biased interruption.

Ultimately, I would like to understand if there were any biases still present in 2002 and, if so, do they still exist today?

Should it be?