EDITORIALS: Newspapers Around the Country Echoed Themes in DPIC’s Year End Report

DPIC’s 2014 Year End Report was fea­tured in numer­ous edi­to­ri­als since its release on December 18, includ­ing:

“Thirty-five peo­ple were put to death in 2014, the fewest in 20 years, accord­ing to a report last month by the Death Penalty Information Center.…[W]hile the death penal­ty may be increas­ing­ly infre­quent, it is all too often a bru­tal end to a bru­tal life.…The peo­ple exe­cut­ed in recent years were not the ​‘worst of the worst’ — as many death-penal­ty advo­cates like to imag­ine — but those who were too poor, men­tal­ly ill or dis­abled to avoid it.”

“According to a year-end count from the Death Penalty Information Center, the coun­try sen­tenced 72 peo­ple to death this year, the fewest num­ber in 40 years, down from a high of 315 in 1996.…All states should end the death penal­ty with­in their bor­ders. The risk of exe­cut­ing the inno­cent, evi­denced by the sev­en men who were exon­er­at­ed this year, is unac­cept­able. The finan­cial cost of admin­is­ter­ing death penal­ty sys­tems is also too high. Either con­sid­er­a­tion over­whelms argu­ments about the punishment’s use­ful­ness as a crime deterrent.”

“[Last year, only 35 inmates were put to death, accord­ing to an annu­al study by the Death Penalty Information Center.…vot­ers are com­ing to real­ize cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment isn’t applied only to those tru­ly guilty of the most heinous crimes. In fact, all too many of those sen­tenced to die turned out to be innocent.”

“[T]he annu­al report about all of this from the Death Penalty Information Center shows that Missouri, Texas and Florida account­ed for 80 per­cent of the exe­cu­tions in 2014.…Reasonable alter­na­tives to the death penal­ty exist, includ­ing, in some cas­es, life in prison with­out parole. These alter­na­tives, which are much less expen­sive to oper­ate, would pre­vent the exe­cu­tion of some peo­ple who aren’t guilty of the crimes they’re con­vict­ed of committing.”

“[T]he Death Penalty Information Center says in its annu­al report, 35 peo­ple have been exe­cut­ed in the United States — down from 98 just 15 years ago.…Capital pun­ish­ment is not going to dis­ap­pear from this coun­try any­time soon. But the more expe­ri­ence Americans have with it, the less they like it.”

“In 2014, U.S. exe­cu­tions fell to a 20-year low — and botched exe­cu­tions in Ohio and oth­er states were part­ly respon­si­ble. …the Death Penalty Information Center reports. …As states con­tin­ue to exper­i­ment with lethal drug cock­tails, Ohioans need to know whether exe­cu­tions here can pro­ceed prop­er­ly. Sadly, the admin­is­tra­tion is mak­ing that practically impossible.”

(Editorial, ​“Ways to make the death penal­ty more fair and humane,” Washington Post, December 31, 2014; Editorial, ​“Shifting Politics on the Death Penalty,” New York Times, January 5, 2015; Editorial, ​“America turn­ing away from death penal­ty: Editorial,” Chicago Sun-Times, December 21, 2014; Editorial, ​“Instead of defy­ing a nation­al trend, Missouri could lead by end­ing the death penal­ty,” Kansas City Star, January 2, 2015; Editorial, ​“The wel­come decline of the death penal­ty,” Chicago Tribune, December 19, 2014; Editorial, ​“Deathly Silence,” Toledo Blade, January 5, 2015). See Editorials and Studies.