Maryland’s Death Penalty Statute Recognizes the Need to Protect Police Officers

Abstract:     
This six-page 2005 article is titled “Maryland’s Death Penalty Statute Recognizes the Need to Protect Police Officers.” It was published in The Trooper magazine. The article shows how the legislature, in enacting Maryland’s death penalty statute, protects law enforcement officers by considering “law enforcement” factors as heavy factors when deciding whether to impose the death penalty. Topics include (1) the death penalty prior to the 1972 Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia, (2) application of Furman v. Georgia to state law, (3) reinstatement of the death penalty after five 1976 Supreme Court decisions, (4) the recognition in death penalty statutes of the need to protect police and other law enforcement officers, and (5) aggravating factors based on the victim being a police officer and/or a police officer in the line of duty.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 6

Keywords: police, law enforcement officers, death penalty, capital punishment, Maryland, Furman v. Georgia, Supreme Court, victims

JEL Classification: K14, K19, K39, K49, L89

working papers series