DPIC’s 12th annu­al Year End Report was released on December 14 and reveals a broad decline in the use of the death penal­ty in the U.S. based on a num­ber of fac­tors: the pub­lic now favors life with­out parole over the death penal­ty; the num­ber of exe­cu­tions has dropped to the fewest in a decade, in part because of chal­lenges to the lethal injec­tion process; and the annu­al num­ber of death sen­tences is now at a 30-year low. The report notes that var­i­ous states have put a hold on all exe­cu­tions, while oth­ers are review­ing prob­lems in the cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem. The report cites a num­ber of new devel­op­ments, includ­ing the chal­lenges posed by the severe men­tal ill­ness of many on death row, and quotes a series of law enforce­ment per­son­nel, edi­to­ri­als, and pub­lic offi­cials voic­ing seri­ous con­cerns about the death penalty.

(Death Penalty Information Center, Dec. 14, 2006). Read the 2006 Report. Read the Press Release accom­pa­ny­ing the report. See Graphs and Links asso­ci­at­ed with issues in the Report.

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