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 years. 

In addi­tion to the numer­i­cal decline in the use of the death penal­ty, there were oth­er sig­nif­i­cant indi­ca­tions of change:

• In New York, the state’s high­est court found the death penal­ty statute to be uncon­sti­tu­tion­al, like­ly clear­ing its death row. The leg­is­la­ture has not enact­ed any rem­e­dy to the flawed statute, and future hear­ings will con­sid­er whether the death penal­ty should be restored at all. 
• In Texas, Houston‘s Police Chief, Harold Hurtt, called for a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions on cas­es from his coun­ty, where the police crime lab has been declared unre­li­able: ​“I think it would be very pru­dent for us as a crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem to delay fur­ther exe­cu­tions until we have had time to review the evi­dence.” Judge Tom Price, a 30-year vet­er­an Republican jurist on Texas’s high­est crim­i­nal court, for­mer FBI Chief William Sessions, and for­mer Texas appel­late judge Charles Baird all con­curred with Hurtt’s rec­om­men­da­tion. The Dallas Morning News, Austin-American Statesman, Houston Chronicle, and San Antonio Express edi­to­ri­al­ized in favor of such a moratorium.
• The U.S. Congress, after 4 years of debate, passed a mod­i­fied ver­sion of the Innocence Protection Act, and it was signed into law, there­by pro­vid­ing addi­tion­al pro­tec­tions for the wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed and greater resources for those fac­ing the death penalty.
• The U.S. Supreme Court heard argu­ments in Roper v. Simmons con­cern­ing the exe­cu­tion of juve­nile offend­ers. If this prac­tice is found uncon­sti­tu­tion­al, 72 inmates will be spared exe­cu­tion, and in the future such offend­ers will receive life sen­tences instead of death. In a series of cas­es from Texas, the Court admon­ished low­er courts for fail­ing to afford defen­dants due process and to fol­low the Court’s pri­or rul­ings. However, many peo­ple have already been exe­cut­ed after pro­ceed­ings the Court would now find unconstitutional.
• In California, the state with the largest death row, the leg­is­la­ture has com­mis­sioned a study of the death penal­ty to uncov­er risks and flaws in the system.
• In Illinois, the mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions put in place in 2000 remains in effect. 
• In New Jersey, ques­tions about the method of exe­cu­tion have put all cas­es on hold, and the gov­er­nor has voiced his sup­port for a mora­to­ri­um on executions.

Read the press release here.