rightwinger
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- Aug 4, 2009
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Slowly, but surely, the US is moving away from the death penalty except for some hot spots
The death penalty is going out of style - The Week
In the U.S., there were just 39 executions in nine states this year, a 10 percent drop from 2012, and only the second time in the past 19 years the number has fallen below 40, the Death Penalty Information Center reported earlier this month. Judges handed down more than 80 death sentences, nearly the lowest number since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the death penalty. In comparison, the number of sentences in 1996 was 315
As the number of state-mandated killings has fallen, so has public support for them. A Gallup poll published this year shows that in 2013, support for capital punishment reached its lowest level in 40 years — down to 60 percent, compared with 80 percent in 1994
Still, the U.S. remains in the top five when it comes to state executions, joined by such illustrious company as China, Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. As a a recent editorial by The New York Times notes, as more places ban capital punishment, it becomes more concentrated in certain parts of the country. "All 80 death sentences in 2013 came from only about two percent of counties in the entire country, and all 39 executions — more than half occurred in Texas and Florida — took place in about one percent of all counties," the Times says. "Eighty-five percent of all counties have not had a single execution in more than 45 years."
The death penalty is going out of style - The Week
In the U.S., there were just 39 executions in nine states this year, a 10 percent drop from 2012, and only the second time in the past 19 years the number has fallen below 40, the Death Penalty Information Center reported earlier this month. Judges handed down more than 80 death sentences, nearly the lowest number since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the death penalty. In comparison, the number of sentences in 1996 was 315
As the number of state-mandated killings has fallen, so has public support for them. A Gallup poll published this year shows that in 2013, support for capital punishment reached its lowest level in 40 years — down to 60 percent, compared with 80 percent in 1994
Still, the U.S. remains in the top five when it comes to state executions, joined by such illustrious company as China, Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. As a a recent editorial by The New York Times notes, as more places ban capital punishment, it becomes more concentrated in certain parts of the country. "All 80 death sentences in 2013 came from only about two percent of counties in the entire country, and all 39 executions — more than half occurred in Texas and Florida — took place in about one percent of all counties," the Times says. "Eighty-five percent of all counties have not had a single execution in more than 45 years."
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