{"id":376202,"date":"2016-03-31T21:36:37","date_gmt":"2016-04-01T02:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-law\/state\/south-carolina-law\/south-carolina-capital-punishment-laws.html"},"modified":"2024-12-04T16:54:23","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T21:54:23","slug":"south-carolina-capital-punishment-laws","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/state\/south-carolina-law\/south-carolina-capital-punishment-laws.html","title":{"rendered":"South Carolina Capital Punishment Laws"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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South Carolina Capital Punishment Laws<\/h1>\n
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\n By Christie Nicholson, J.D.<\/a> | Legally reviewed by FindLaw Staff<\/a>\n | Last updated\n
\n \n <\/i>\n Legally Reviewed\n <\/summary>\n\n
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This article has been written and reviewed for legal accuracy, clarity, and style by FindLaw\u2019s team of legal writers and attorneys<\/a> and in accordance with our editorial standards<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/details>\n\n

\n \n <\/i>\n Fact-Checked\n <\/summary>\n\n
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The last updated date refers to the last time this article was reviewed by FindLaw or one of our contributing authors<\/a>. We make every effort to keep our articles updated. For information regarding a specific legal issue affecting you, please contact an attorney in your area<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/details>\n<\/section>\n

The State of South Carolina still has capital punishment or the death penalty<\/a>. Except for a few years following the Supreme Court’s decision in Furman v. Georgia<\/i><\/a> <\/i>(1972), South Carolina has always had the death penalty.<\/p>\r\n

In total, the South Carolina Department of Corrections has carried out 684 executions<\/a>. Only 43 of these happened after the legislature reinstated capital punishment in 1976. There are now 35 death row inmates in South Carolina, and there hasn’t been an execution in more than 10 years.<\/p>\r\n

Here, we’ll discuss South Carolina’s death penalty laws, including the methods of execution<\/a> available. We will also describe the types of crimes that warrant a death sentence.<\/p>\r\n

State of Capital Punishment in the United States<\/b><\/h2>\r\n

For years, Americans have debated whether the death penalty is right or wrong. According to the Pew Research Center<\/a>, more than 60% of Americans believe that, in some cases, the death penalty is warranted. It should come as no surprise that 21 states still have the death penalty<\/a> on the books. According to the Death Penalty Information Center<\/a>, six of these states have not executed anyone in some time.<\/p>\r\n

Besides state capital punishment laws, the federal government also has the option of imposing the death sentence<\/a>. There are some states that no longer enforce the death penalty in state-level cases that must carry out federal executions.<\/p>\r\n

Until 1972, the federal government allowed the states to decide if they wanted to impose the death penalty. But in a 1972 Supreme Court case (Furman<\/i>), the justices agreed that the death penalty, as written, was unconstitutional<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

In the Furman<\/i> case, there was a claim that the death penalty violated the cruel and unusual punishment<\/a> clause of the Eighth Amendment. According to the petitioner, the death penalty, as applied, was discriminatory against minorities and arbitrarily imposed by state and federal courts.<\/p>\r\n

The Supreme Court decided the then-current capital punishment laws were discriminatory and arbitrarily applied. The Court issued a moratorium on the death penalty<\/a> across the nation until state legislatures rewrote the death penalty laws to address the concerns in Furman<\/i>.<\/p>\r\n

After the Furman<\/i> decision, many states chose to rewrite their laws and reinstate the death penalty<\/a>. South Carolina was one of them. Some of the other states that reinstated the death penalty include:<\/p>\r\n