The First Eight After Furman: Who was Executed with the Return of the Death Penalty?

Abstract

The death of Gary Gilmore before a firing squad in 1977 marked an end to a ten-year period in the United States without an execution. Eight executions took place between January 1977 and September 1983. All those put to death were male, the youngest was 24 years of age, seven of the eight were white, guilt was established in all cases with near certainty, the crimes were particularly heinous, and several asked for death. The first eight to be executed thus had characteristics designed to mute the protest against the death penalty. The authors contend that if executions are resumed on a large scale, this pattern cannot be maintained.