Death penalty

South Carolina is one of thirty-eight states that authorize the death penalty. Murder is the only state crime for which one may be executed. Because of the severity of the penalty, special procedures exist for death penalty trials. For example, death penalty trials are “bifurcated,” a term that means a trial is divided into two parts. The first segment is the guilt or innocence phase in which a prosecutor must prove to a jury, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the offender did in fact commit the murder and acted with extreme disregard for human life. If the jury returns a verdict of “guilty,” the trial then moves to the penalty phase. Here the prosecutor must show that aggravating circumstances exist that would warrant the most extreme punishment. If the prosecutor can demonstrate that one of these factors was present during the commission of the crime, the jury may opt, but is not required, to impose a sentence of death. Much as in the guilt phase, the defense will use the penalty phase to introduce mitigating circumstances that demonstrate that the crime in question does not satisfy the requirements for death.

Prior to 1912 executions were carried out by individual counties. The method of choice at that time was hanging. On August 6, 1912, the state began executions by electrocution. The original death row and death house were located at the Central Correctional Institution (CCI) in Columbia. The last execution to take place at the CCI site was in 1986. In 1988 the state established a new Capital Punishment Facility located at the Broad River Correctional Institution (BRCI) in Columbia. The first execution occurred there in 1990. Death row was also moved temporarily from CCI to BRCI. By 1997 death row for men was permanently located at Lieber Correctional Institution in Ridgeville. For women it was located at the Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution in Columbia. The rationale for not having death row located in the same facility as the death house is that it allows the correctional staff who deal with the inmates on a daily basis on death row to avoid any responsibility in carrying out the death warrant. From 1912 to 1995 the method of execution was death by electrocution. However, in 1995 the state legislature adopted a second method, that of lethal injection. Inmates under a death sentence are allowed to choose the method by which the sentence is carried out. If an inmate does not select a method and was sentenced prior to 1995, then he or she will be executed by electrocution. If the inmate does not select a method and was sentenced after 1995, the default choice is lethal injection.

Between 1912 and 2000 South Carolina put 266 people to death, 203 blacks and 63 whites. Of these, 241 took place prior to 1962, when questions about the constitutionality of the death penalty led to a moratorium on executions until 1985. The youngest person ever executed was fourteen years old; the oldest was sixty-six years old. South Carolina has executed two women: Sue Logue in 1943 and Rosa Stinette in 1947. REID C. TOTH

Allard, John. “Changing of the Guard.” Columbia State, February 13, 1994, pp. D1, D6–D7.

Christman, Roger E. “‘Dear Governor Blackwood have you a little boy? Would you wont him Burned in the Electric Chair?’: Juvenile Justice and Executions in South Carolina, 1894–1962.” Master’s thesis, University of South Carolina, 1998.

Watson, Patricia Seets, and William Shepard McAninch. Guide to South Car- olina Criminal Law and Procedure. 5th ed. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1997.