Use of Death Penalty in U.S. Continues to Wane
The number of people sentenced to death dropped this year to the second-lowest level since 1973, as executions have fallen into disuse in all but a handful of states. So far in 2019, fewer than 40 death sentences are likely to be imposed, according to a report released Tuesday by the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that researches the death penalty. The number of executions fell to 22, the second-lowest level in nearly three decades, according to the report.
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Plummeting rates of violent crime, greater scrutiny of wrongful convictions and the increasing expense and difficulty of carrying out executions all have contributed to a two-decade-long plunge in the use of the death penalty. States also have increasingly adopted the sentence of life in prison without parole, which polls show is gaining in popularity as an alternative to death sentences. States representing more than half of the U.S. population have either abolished the death penalty or frozen executions. California, which has the largest death-row population, this year imposed a moratorium on executions, with Gov. Gavin Newsom saying no executions would occur under his administration.
Death-penalty supporters say the trend toward fewer executions doesn’t represent a fundamental shift in Americans’ views. Rather, they say, it signals a sense of complacency as the crime rate has fallen. “The tide is going to start turning as the crime rate goes up,” said Michael Rushford, president and chief executive of the Sacramento-based Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for the death penalty. “We’ve got more homeless on the streets, the subway is not as safe as it used to be. There are indications that there are more problems.”
Executions could tick up next year if the Trump administration succeeds in its effort to resume federal executions after a 16-year hiatus. The Justice Department issued death warrants setting execution dates for five death-row inmates in July, but they have been put on hold since a preliminary injunction blocking the executions. If the Trump administration wins in court, that could lead to a spate of new executions, Mr. Dunham said. “The Justice Department upholds the rule of law—and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system,” Attorney General William Barr said in a release in July.
The death penalty has virtually vanished from the northeastern corner of the country and has eroded significantly in the West, Mr. Dunham said. Executions are now largely concentrated in the south, led by Texas, Tennessee and Alabama. Death sentences are also now limited to a couple of dozen mostly larger counties with the considerable resources needed to try to carry out a death sentence. Cuyahoga County, which encompasses Cleveland, led the way by sentencing three people to death in 2019.
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/use-of-death-penalty-in-u-s-continues-to-wane-11576558860 (paid subscription)
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