Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Pima County, Arizona have been the main juris­dic­tions in their respec­tive states for death sen­tences in the past. Now they are send­ing con­sid­er­ably few­er peo­ple to death row or seek­ing the death penal­ty less. Philadelphia pros­e­cu­tors have sought the death penal­ty 24 times since last September, but jurors from the city have not sent any­one to death row in more than a year. In fact, the city has only secured death sen­tences against 4 peo­ple since 2000. In the major­i­ty of cas­es where jurors have cho­sen not to send defen­dants to death row, they have imposed a sen­tence of life in prison with­out parole. Cathie Abookire, a spokes­woman for Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham, not­ed: ​“When some­one wants to plead guilty to the crime of mur­der, and we know that life means life in Pennyslvania, then we are all for it. It gives the fam­i­ly some peace of mind, because it is over. There are not going to be 20 years of appeals.” (Associated Press, October 3, 2003)

Similarly, the num­ber of death sen­tences pur­sued in Pima County, Arizona has decreased by a third. ​“We’ve made a con­scious effort to lim­it the death notices to the worst cas­es. We have a fuller dis­cus­sion about can we — and should we — pur­sue death. It’s a more thought­ful process,” said pros­e­cu­tor Rick Unklesbay. The pol­i­cy shift was embraced by vic­tim advo­cate Gail Leland, who stat­ed, ​“I think the process and the options that we have now regard­ing sen­tenc­ing have real­ly been improved.” (Associated Press, October 5, 2003). See Life Without Parole.

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