Guidelines

• In the United States, judges have a lot of leeway in sentencing. The guidelines will often list a minimum and maximum sentence for a crime, and require extra time for special circumstances, such as the use of a deadly weapon.
  
  

Execution

• Individual states can set their own requirements for the death penalty separate from the federal guidelines. In either case, the criminal must be convicted of murder with at least one special or aggravating circumstance, such as murder during a kidnapping or murder following a rape.
  
  

Extradition

• Because many countries have begun to ban the death penalty, the United States typically has to promise to remove the possibility of the death penalty before the foreign country will agree to extradite a suspect accused of murder.