United States
2026
- GOVERNMENT
- federal republic with a strong federal tradition
- CONSTITUTION
- September 17, 1787, in effect from March 4, 1789
- LEGAL SYSTEM
- federal court system based on English common law. Each state has its own legal system
- LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
- bicameral, Congress (Senate and House of Representatives)
- JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals, U.S. District Courts; state and county courts
RELIGIONS
51.3% Protestants; 23.9% Catholics; 1.7% Mormons; 1.6% other Christians; 1.7% Jews; 0.7% Muslims; other unspecified or no religion
From the country
OCTOBER 11, 2005CaliforniaDEATH PENALTYUNITED STATES. SUPREME COURT DENIES APPEAL BY STANLEY ‘TOOKIE’ WILLIAMS
the US Supreme Court declined to review the case of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, a California death-row inmate whose attorneys argued that the prosecutor had engaged in racial discrimination in selecting the jury for his trial.
OCTOBER 4, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA. FEDERAL JUDGE SAYS DEATH PENALTY IS BEYOND REPAIR
in a dissenting opinion filed in the capital case of Moore v. Parker, Judge Boyce Martin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit wrote that "the death penalty in this country is arbitrary, biased, and so fundamentally flawed at its very core th
- AUGUST 31, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
UNITED STATES. MAN CAN BE EXTRADITED TO FACE THAI DEATH PENALTY
a US federal appeals court declined to block the extradition to Thailand of Suwit Prasoprat, an American who faced the death penalty there for drug smuggling.
- AUGUST 19, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
proponents of the so-called Streamlined Procedures Act justify this radical piece of...
proponents of the so-called Streamlined Procedures Act justify this radical piece of legislation by citing the supposedly intrusive scrutiny of federal courts of state capital convictions and the delays that ensue.
- AUGUST 13, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
newly published research examining 340 exonerations in the United States between...
newly published research examining 340 exonerations in the United States between 1989 and 2003 found that a significant number of those who were wrongly convicted had been sentenced to death.
- AUGUST 7, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
speaking at the American Bar Association's Thurgood Marshall Awards Dinner in Illinois...
speaking at the American Bar Association's Thurgood Marshall Awards Dinner in Illinois...
- JULY 27, 2005IranDEATH PENALTY
US CONDEMNS IRANIAN EXECUTIONS, SAYS DUE PROCESS DENIED
The US State Department responded critically to 10 recent executions in Iran, saying the rights of defendants weren't safeguarded.
- JULY 20, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
GUANTANAMO BAY. US ADVISER RULES OUT DEATH PENALTY
Air Force Brigadier-General Thomas Hemingway, the US military legal adviser overseeing the possible trials of up to 12 terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, including Australian David Hicks, says no evidence from any of the cases warrant him seeking the deat
JULY 14, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTYVERMONT, USA. JURY RECOMMENDS DEATH FOR MAN IN FIRST DEATH PENALTY CASE FOR 50 YEARS
Donald Fell, a man convicted of kidnapping a supermarket worker and fatally beating her as she prayed for her life, was sentenced to death by a federal jury in Vermont's first capital punishment case in almost a half century.
- JULY 12, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
VIRGINIA, USA. HIGH COURT STAYS LOVITT EXECUTION
the US Supreme Court granted a last-minute stay of execution to Robin Lovitt, a man convicted of murder in Virginia, because much of the evidence was accidentally destroyed.
JUNE 20, 2005PennsylvaniaDEATH PENALTYUNITED STATES. SUPREME COURT TOSSES DEATH SENTENCE
the US Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Ronald Rompilla, a Pennsylvania man on death row for a 1988 murder, ruling that his lawyers had failed to properly represent him.
JUNE 6, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA. MURDERS DECLINE EVEN AS NUMBER OF EXECUTIONS DROP
preliminary data from the FBI's Uniform Crime Report for 2004 found that murders in the U. S. dropped last year by 3.6%. The number of executions also declined in 2004.