On December 19, the Death Penalty Information Center released its annu­al report on the lat­est devel­op­ments in cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, ​“The Death Penalty in 2013: Year End Report.” In 2013, exe­cu­tions declined, few­er states imposed death sen­tences, and the size of death row decreased com­pared to the pre­vi­ous year. The num­ber of states with the death penal­ty also dropped, and pub­lic sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment reg­is­tered a 40-year low. There were 39 exe­cu­tions in the U.S., mark­ing only the sec­ond time in 19 years that there were less than 40. Just two states, Texas (16) and Florida (7), were respon­si­ble for 59% of the exe­cu­tions. The num­ber of death sen­tences (80) remained near record lows, and sev­er­al major death penal­ty states, inclu­c­ing Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Louisiana, imposed no death sen­tences this year. Maryland became the sixth state in six years to abol­ish cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. ​“Twenty years ago, use of the death penal­ty was increas­ing. Now it is declin­ing by almost every mea­sure,” said Richard Dieter, DPIC’s Executive Director and the author of the report. ​“The recur­rent prob­lems of the death penal­ty have made its appli­ca­tion rare, iso­lat­ed, and often delayed for decades. More states will like­ly recon­sid­er the wis­dom of retain­ing this expen­sive and ineffectual practice.”

(“The Death Penalty in 2013: Year End Report,” DPIC, December 19, 2013). See DPIC’s Press Release. View a video sum­ma­riz­ing the report. See oth­er DPIC Reports.

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