On December 18, DPIC released its annu­al report on the lat­est devel­op­ments in cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, ​“The Death Penalty in 2014: Year End Report.” In 2014, 35 peo­ple were exe­cut­ed, the fewest in 20 years. Death sen­tences dropped to their low­est lev­el in the mod­ern era of the death penal­ty, with 72 peo­ple sen­tenced to death, the small­est num­ber in 40 years. Just sev­en states car­ried out exe­cu­tions, and three states (Texas, Missouri, and Florida) account­ed for 80% of the exe­cu­tions. The num­ber of states car­ry­ing out exe­cu­tions was the low­est in 25 years. Seven peo­ple were exon­er­at­ed from death row this year, includ­ing three men in Ohio, who were cleared of all charges 39 years after their con­vic­tions, the longest time among all death row exonerees. There have now been 150 peo­ple exon­er­at­ed from death row since 1973. ​“The rel­e­van­cy of the death penal­ty in our crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem is seri­ous­ly in ques­tion when 43 out of our 50 states do not apply the ulti­mate sanc­tion,” said Richard Dieter, DPIC’s Executive Director and the author of the report. ​“The U.S. will like­ly con­tin­ue with some exe­cu­tions in the years ahead, but the ratio­nale for such spo­radic use is far from clear.” See DPIC’s Press Release. View a video sum­ma­riz­ing the report.

The report also dis­cuss­es the botched exe­cu­tions in Ohio, Oklahoma, and Arizona, and devel­op­ments in the area of mental disabilities.

(“The Death Penalty in 2014: Year End Report,” DPIC, December 18, 2014). See DPIC’s Press Release. View a video sum­ma­riz­ing the report. See oth­er DPIC Reports.

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