MOSCOW, September 19 (RIA Novosti) – On September 17, 38-year-old Lisa Coleman was executed in Texas for the torture and starvation death of her girlfriend’s 9-year old boy over ten years ago, making her the 15th woman to be executed in the United States since the mid-70’s, and the second woman to be lethally injected in Texas this year.
Generally speaking, the actual execution of female offenders is incredibly rare; women represent only 3% of the total number of confirmed executions in the United States. Coleman was the 15th woman to have been put to death after the US Supreme Court restored states’ rights to use capital punishment in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).
Texas has executed six women, more than any other American state – Lisa Coleman, Suzanne Basso, Kimberly McCarthy, Frances Newton, Betty Lou Beets and Karla Tucker. Neighboring Oklahoma, the first state to re-adopt the death penalty after 1976, is in second place, having executed three women (Lois Smith, Marilyn Plantz and Wanda Allen). Florida executed notorious serial killer Aileen Wuornos in 2002 and Judy Buenoano in 1998. The four other states that have executed women are Arkansas (Christina Riggs), Alabama (Lynda Block), Virginia (Teresa Lewis) and North Carolina (Velma Barfield), according to DPIC data.
All of the women were lethally injected except Lynda Block and Judy Buenoano, who were electrocuted. Most of the female offenders were found guilty of having murdered those who were close to them, such as their husbands and boyfriends, as well as children. Exceptions include Lynda Block, who was found guilty of killing an Alabama police officer, and Florida’s Aileen Wuornos, who killed seven men while working as a street prostitute, reports the Washington Post.
Capital punishment remains a contested topic in the US. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have abolished the death penalty. While Michigan hasn’t had a death penalty since 1846, Maryland, Illinois, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut have only scrapped capital punishment in the last seven years. In New Mexico, Connecticut and Maryland, the repeal wasn’t retroactive, leaving several people in each of these states on death row. Southern states, such as Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and Virginia have executed nearly 1, 000 people.
