The U.S. con­duct­ed the 1,000th exe­cu­tion since the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed in 1976 on December 2. This is a somber mile­stone in the his­to­ry of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, but it comes at a time when the use of the death penal­ty in this coun­try is sharply declin­ing. Death sen­tences, the size of death row, exe­cu­tions, and pub­lic sup­port for the death penal­ty are all low­er than they were five years ago.

This event presents an oppor­tu­ni­ty to reflect on the appli­ca­tion of the death penal­ty over the past 30 years. The fol­low­ing are resources that may be help­ful in such a review:

Other orga­ni­za­tions’ respons­es (includ­ing the let­ter from 1,000 religious leaders):
www​.1000ex​e​cu​tions​.org

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