Death Row U . S . A . Winter 2023
CUBA ’ S LONG-IGNORED DEATH PENALTY LAW
Much has been written negatively about what occurs in Cuba : that the electoral process is firmly controlled by the government , that it is a one-party system with a unicameral legislature , and that its elections are neither free nor fair .
Recently , concerns have arisen regarding Cuba ’ s new penal code , enacted in December 2022 . Pursuant to that code 24 different crimes are listed by the National Assembly as eligible for the penalty of death .
However , when it comes to executions in Cuba , this law is misleading .
Cuba has not executed anyone since 2003 , and in 2010 the Cuban High Court commuted the sentence of its last remaining death row inmate .
This picture is quite different from that of the United States .
Death Row U . S . A . Winter 2023
( As of January 1 , 2023 ) TOTAL NUMBER OF DEATH ROW INMATES 2331 :
White |
42 % |
Black |
41 % |
Latino |
14 % |
Native |
American |
1 % |
Asian |
2 % |
Source : NAACP Legal Defense Fund
There are currently over 2,300 people on death row in the state prisons . And there are more than 40 people on death row in the U . S . federal system . In a six-month period in 2020 , 13 federal death row prisoners were executed .
Until that rash of executions from mid-2020 through early January 2021 , there had been a lengthy moratorium on federal executions . However , executions in the states have gone on unabated . There were 18 executions in 2022 , and 23 through the end of November in 2023 .
Currently , at the federal level , there is a renewed moratorium on executions .
That there has not been an execution in Cuba for more than 20 years is no accident . The moratorium – despite the explicit provision for the death penalty in Cuba ’ s penal code – seems to be a conscious decision by its government . n
Elaine Jones was a counsel in Furman v . Georgia , the 1972 US Supreme Court case which abolished the death penalty in 37 states for four years and saved 629 lives .
Wade Henderson headed a non-governmental organization , which was a civil and human rights coalition that engaged in legislative campaigns , appeals to the president and the United Nations urging the abolition of the death penalty in the United States .
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