Mirroring a nation­wide decline in both exe­cu­tions and death row pop­u­la­tion, Maryland’s death row has fall­en by 50% in recent years and the state has not car­ried out an exe­cu­tion since 1998. An in-depth review of Maryland’s death row by The Washington Post found that the state’s death row has dropped from a pop­u­la­tion of 18 to 9, large­ly due to rever­sals in cas­es and the impact of court rul­ings else­where. Victims’ fam­i­lies, emo­tion­al­ly frayed by the years of appeals, are also telling pros­e­cu­tors not to seek death in instances where inmates win resen­tenc­ing, and many juries are choos­ing to sen­tence cap­i­tal defen­dants to life with­out parole. Only two men have joined Maryland’s death row since June 2000, and many more have been removed. Nationally, there were 50% few­er death sen­tences hand­ed down in 2003 com­pared with 1999. Both the num­ber of inmates on death row and the num­ber of exe­cu­tions declined in 2003. (Washington Post, February 6, 2004) See DPIC’s 2003 Year End Report (not­ing that last year also had a record-tying num­ber of exon­er­a­tions from death row).

Citation Guide