DPIC Year-End Reports
Reports: 16 — 20
Dec 10, 2008
The Death Penalty in 2008: Year End Report
Executions resumed in 2008 after a de facto moratorium was effectively lifted by the Supreme Court following its decision upholding lethal injection. But only the South returned to regular executions, accounting for 95% of executions carried out in the country in 2008. Almost half of the executions were in Texas. In some states, such as California, Maryland, Delaware and North Carolina, the lethal injection issue remains unsettled, and no executions…
Read MoreDec 17, 2007
The Death Penalty in 2007: Year End Report
Two dramatic events this year symbolized the broad changes that have been occurring in the death penalty around the country. Executions halted after September 25 when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to the constitutionality of the mixture of chemicals used in lethal injections in Kentucky (Baze v. Rees). This de facto moratorium on lethal injections contributed to the fewest number of executions in 13…
Read MoreDec 14, 2006
The Death Penalty in 2006: Year End Report
The use of the death penalty in the U.S. continued to decline in 2006, consistent with a pattern over the past six years. Executions dropped to their lowest level in 10 years as many states grappled with problems related to wrongful convictions and the lethal injection process. The number of death sentences and the size of death row are also decreasing. And for the first time, the Gallup Poll reported that more people supported a sentence of life without parole over the death…
Read MoreDec 15, 2005
The Death Penalty in 2005: Year End Report
The year 2005 may be remembered as the year that life without parole became an acceptable alternative to the death penalty in the U.S. Texas became the 37th out of 38 death penalty states to adopt this option for its juries. New York’s legislature did not restore the death penalty after it was found unconstitutional, leaving life without parole as the punishment for capital murder. Across the country, the number of death sentences dropped to record lows and some of the most notorious…
Read MoreDec 15, 2004
The Death Penalty in 2004: Year End Report
By every measure, the death penalty in the U.S. has been in decline since 1999 and the evidence from 2004 continues that trend. Whether examining death sentences, executions, the size of death row or public support, capital punishment numbers have dropped in a way not seen in over 30…
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