Here's one particularly good answer so far:
- First-degree murder (i.e., any intentional murder that is willful and premeditated with malice aforethought)
- Felony murder (i.e., murder in the commission of another felony, such as robbery, kidnapping or carjacking)
- Terrorism (i.e., premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets, or providing material support to accomplish such)
- High treason (i.e., levying war against the US, or adhering to their enemies)
I would add as well the act of murdering a police officer (when the killer knew their victim was an officer).(Thank you,
Law & Order, Season 6, Episode 3, entitled "Savages," which portrayed the prosecution of a cop-killer shortly after the state of New York re-instated the death penalty. Jack McCoy supported imposing the death penalty on a person who knowingly killed an undercover cop while his assistant, Claire Kincaid, was absolutely opposed to the death penalty, and they had a couple of fascinating little debates about whether the death penalty is morally correct.)
A few posters have said that rape and child molestation should be the basis of the death penalty as well. The SCOTUS has already said no to both of those -- they said no to the death penalty for rape in 1977, the case of
Coker v. Georgia, and they said no to the death penalty for child molestation in 2008, the case of
Kennedy v. Louisiana. I have no objection to either of those rulings. It makes sense to me that imposing the death penalty for non-lethal sex crimes, even as heinous as molesting children, is too severe of a form of punishment. I would like to
castrate rapists and child molesters, though!
