rightwinger
Award Winning USMB Paid Messageboard Poster
- Aug 4, 2009
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With the exception of Jesusland, fewer and fewer states still use the archaic punishment
Among signs the death penalty may be on life support:
• The number of death sentences dropped from a high of 315 in 1996 to 73 last year – half of them coming in just 2% of the nation's counties.
• The number of prisoners on death row peaked at 3,593 in 2000 but now hovers around 3,000, a 17% decline.
• The number of executions peaked at 98 in 1999 and has dropped since then, hitting a low of 35 last year. In the first eight months of this year, 20 prisoners have been killed — 16 of them in Texas and Missouri.
• Seven states have repealed the death penalty since 2007. Among the 31 that retain it, governors have imposed a moratorium in four, and most others haven't executed anyone in years. Only seven states carried out executions in the past two years.
• The federal government has not carried out an execution since 2003. An unofficial moratorium has been declared pending the completion of a Justice Department review of the death penalty ordered last year by President Obama.
Courts, states put death penalty on life support
Among signs the death penalty may be on life support:
• The number of death sentences dropped from a high of 315 in 1996 to 73 last year – half of them coming in just 2% of the nation's counties.
• The number of prisoners on death row peaked at 3,593 in 2000 but now hovers around 3,000, a 17% decline.
• The number of executions peaked at 98 in 1999 and has dropped since then, hitting a low of 35 last year. In the first eight months of this year, 20 prisoners have been killed — 16 of them in Texas and Missouri.
• Seven states have repealed the death penalty since 2007. Among the 31 that retain it, governors have imposed a moratorium in four, and most others haven't executed anyone in years. Only seven states carried out executions in the past two years.
• The federal government has not carried out an execution since 2003. An unofficial moratorium has been declared pending the completion of a Justice Department review of the death penalty ordered last year by President Obama.
Courts, states put death penalty on life support