In a chapter from the recently released American Bar Association publication, The State of Criminal Justice 2016, Ronald J. Tabak, chair of the Death Penalty Committee of the ABA’s Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, describes significant trends and recent cases related to capital punishment. Tabak highlights the ongoing declines in death sentences and executions across the United States, as well as the increasing concentration of the death penalty in a small number of jurisdictions. The chapter details the lethal injection controversies that have slowed executions in many states and halted them in others. It also includes sections on key Supreme Court cases, particularly Glossip v. Gross, and on innocence, emphasizing recent exonerations. Tabak concludes with a prediction: “As more and more people recognize that our capital punishment system is inconsistent with both conservative and liberal principles, and with common sense, the opportunity for its abolition throughout the United States will arrive.”

(R. Tabak, “Capital Punishment,” The State of Criminal Justice 2016, June 2016.) See Studies.

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