In capital punishment, a volunteer is a prisoner who wishes to be sentenced to death. Often, volunteers will waive all appeals in an attempt to expedite the sentence. In the United States, execution volunteers constitute approximately 10% of prisoners on death row.[1] Volunteers can sometimes bypass legal procedures which are designed to designate the death penalty for the most serious offenders. Other prisoners have killed in prison with the desire of receiving the death sentence. Opponents of execution volunteering cited the prevalence of mental illness among volunteers comparing it to a form of suicide. Execution volunteering has received considerably less attention and effort at legal reform than those who were exonerated after execution.[2]
- ^ "Execution Volunteers". Death Penalty Information Center. 2021-11-17. Retrieved 13 Nov 2022.
- ^ Rountree, Meredith Martin (2014). "Volunteers for Execution: Directions for Further Research into Grief, Culpability, and Legal Structures" (PDF). Northwestern University School of Law. Retrieved 2 July 2020.