Court TV Library

California and the Death Penalty

California allows the death penalty as an option in the following cases:

first-degree murder with special circumstances
treason
homicide by a prisoner serving a life sentence
train wrecking
perjury causing execution

The sentence is death by lethal injection and lethal gas. Lethal injection will be used if the inmate fails specify a method.

Minimum age for death penalty: 18.

Executions 1930-1976: 294

Executions since 1977: 5


Copyright 199
</HTML>6 by American Lawyer Media, L.P. All Rights Reserved. No parts of this site may be reproduced without permission of American Lawyer Media. Nothing in this site is intended to constitute legal advice.