Year-End Reports

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Death Penalty Use in 2015 Declines Sharply Fewest Executions, Fewest Death Sentences, and Fewest States Employing the Death Penalty in Decades (Washington, D.C.) The use of the death penalty in the U.S. declined by virtually every measure in 2015. The 28 executions this year marked the lowest number since 1991, according to a report released today by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC). As of December 15, fourteen states and the federal government have imposed…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DEATH PENALTY 2014: FEWEST EXECUTIONS IN 20 YEARS FEWEST DEATH SENTENCES IN 40 YEARS Seven Death Row Inmates Exonerated, Highest in Five Years (Washington, D.C.) With 35 executions this year, 2014 marks the fewest people put to death since 1994, according to a report released today by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC). The 72 new death sentences in 2014[1] is the lowest number in the modern era of the death penalty, dating back to 1974. Executions and…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Executions Drop Below 40 for Only Second Time since 1994 Death Sentences Remain Near Record Lows, Number of States Repealing Capital Punishment Grows, and Public Support for Death Penalty at 40-Year Low (Washington, D.C.) With 39 executions in 2013, this year marks only the second time in nearly two decades that the United States executed less than 40 people, according to a report released today by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC). One of the reasons for…

DEATH SENTENCES IN 2012 REMAIN NEAR HISTORIC LOW Key Southern States Had No Death Sentences or No Executions, According to New Report Number of Death Penalty States Drops with Connecticut’s Repeal (Washington, D.C.) Only nine states carried out executions this year, equaling the fewest number of states to do so in 20 years, according to a new report released today by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC). More than half of the states (29) either have no death penalty or have not…

(Washington, D.C.) New death sentences dropped to 78 in 2011, representing a dramatic decline from last year’s number of 112 and marking the first time since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976 that the country has produced fewer than 100 death sentences in a single year, according to a report released today by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), based on data as of mid-December. Death sentences have declined about 75 percent since 1996, when 315 individuals were sentenced to…