Death sen­tences, exe­cu­tions, and pub­lic sup­port for the death penal­ty con­tin­ued their his­toric declines in 2016, accord­ing to DPIC’s annu­al report, ​“The Death Penalty in 2016: Year End Report,” released on December 21. The 30 death sen­tences imposed this year are the fewest in the mod­ern era of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the U.S. — since the Supreme Court declared all exist­ing death penal­ty statutes uncon­sti­tu­tion­al in 1972 — and declined 39% from 2015’s already 40-year low. Just 20 peo­ple were exe­cut­ed in 2016, the fewest exe­cu­tions since 1991. Both death sen­tences and exe­cu­tions were increas­ing­ly geo­graph­i­cal­ly iso­lat­ed. Two states — Georgia and Texas — account­ed for 80% of exe­cu­tions, and more than half of all death sen­tences were imposed in just three states — California, Ohio, and Texas. Election results reflect­ed America’s deep divi­sions about the death penal­ty, as vot­ers in three states decid­ed to retain the death penal­ty or add it to the state con­sti­tu­tion, while vot­ers in five of the high­est-use death penal­ty coun­ties replaced pros­e­cu­tors who strong­ly sup­port­ed the death penal­ty with can­di­dates who promised reform and reduc­tions in cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tions. Courts struck down prac­tices in Arizona, Delaware, Florida, and Oklahoma that had con­tributed to dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly high num­bers of death sen­tences. ​“America is in the midst of a major cli­mate change con­cern­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. While there may be fits and starts and occa­sion­al steps back­ward, the long-term trend remains clear,” said Robert Dunham, DPIC’s Executive Director and the author of the report. ​“Whether it’s con­cerns about inno­cence, costs, and dis­crim­i­na­tion, avail­abil­i­ty of life with­out parole as a safe alter­na­tive, or the ques­tion­able way in which states are attempt­ing to car­ry out exe­cu­tions, the pub­lic grows increas­ing­ly uncom­fort­able with the death penal­ty each year.” See DPIC’s Press Release. Watch a short video sum­ma­ry of the report. (Click image to enlarge.)

The report also includes a dis­cus­sion of exe­cu­tions this year that involved inmates who had symp­toms of severe men­tal ill­ness, intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ties, or extreme trau­ma. It cov­ers court devel­op­ments across the coun­try and fea­tures quotes from notable voic­es who spoke about the death penal­ty this year.

(“The Death Penalty in 2016: Year End Report,” DPIC, December 21, 2016). See oth­er DPIC Reports.

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