The Death Penalty in 2011: Year End Report

DPIC’s Year End Report: Death Sentences Drop Well Below 100; Lowest Number Since Capital Punishment was Reinstated in 1976

Executions Decline Nationwide; Texas Executions Decrease by Almost Half Over Two Years 

(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 death.

Executions have also steadi­ly decreased nation­wide, with 43 in 2011 and 46 in 2010, rep­re­sent­ing a 56 per­cent decline since 1999, when there were 98. Texas had 13 exe­cu­tions in 2011, and 24 in 2009, rep­re­sent­ing a 46 per­cent drop over two years. Read ​“The Death Penalty in 2011: Year End Report” at www​.death​penal​ty​in​fo​.org.

“This year, the use of the death penal­ty con­tin­ued to decline by almost every mea­sure. Executions, death sen­tences, pub­lic sup­port, the num­ber of states with the death penal­ty all dropped from pre­vi­ous years,” said Richard Dieter, DPIC’s Executive Director and the report’s author. ​“Whether it’s con­cerns about unfair­ness, exe­cut­ing the inno­cent, the high costs of the death penal­ty, or the gen­er­al feel­ing that the gov­ern­ment just can’t get it right, Americans moved fur­ther away from cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in 2011.”

Many states with the death penal­ty on the books, includ­ing Maryland, South Carolina, Missouri, and Indiana, had no new death sen­tences this year. California had a sharp drop in death sen­tences in 2011, decreas­ing by over half since 2010 when there were 29 sen­tences. Repeal of the death penal­ty is like­ly to be on the bal­lot in that state next year.

The declin­ing num­bers occurred in the con­text of three sig­nif­i­cant devel­op­ments in the evo­lu­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment this year: 

• Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed leg­is­la­tion to repeal the death penal­ty, mak­ing Illinois the fourth state in four years to aban­don cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. A com­mis­sion report­ed that the state had spent $100 mil­lion on assist­ing coun­ties with death penal­ty pros­e­cu­tions while the state’s deficit grew to one of the country’s largest.
• Many Americans were shocked to learn that a man, Troy Davis in Georgia, could be exe­cut­ed in spite of strong doubts about his guilt. Several key wit­ness­es recant­ed their tes­ti­mo­ny against Davis, caus­ing even death penal­ty sup­port­ers like for­mer U.S. Rep. Bob Barr to state: ​“Imposing a death sen­tence on the skimp­i­est of evi­dence does not serve the inter­est of justice.”
• Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber stopped a pend­ing exe­cu­tion and ordered that no oth­ers would occur dur­ing his term. Governor Kitzhaber, who over­saw two exe­cu­tions in the 1990s, urged cit­i­zens to ​“find a bet­ter solu­tion” to a sys­tem that he said is arbi­trary, expen­sive and ​“fails to meet basic stan­dards of justice.”

Also this year, the Gallup Poll, which mea­sures the pub­lic’s sup­port for the death penal­ty, but with­out offer­ing alter­na­tives, record­ed the low­est lev­el of sup­port and the high­est lev­el of oppo­si­tion in almost 40 years. Only 61 per­cent sup­port­ed the death penal­ty, com­pared to 80 per­cent in 1994. Thirty-five per­cent were opposed, com­pared to 16 per­cent in 1994. A more in-depth CNN poll gave respon­dents a choice between the death penal­ty and life with­out parole for those who com­mit mur­der. Fifty per­cent chose a life sen­tence, while 48 per­cent chose death. 

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Death Penalty Information Center is a non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tion serv­ing the media and the pub­lic with analy­sis and infor­ma­tion on issues con­cern­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. DPIC was found­ed in 1990 and pre­pares in-depth reports, issues press releas­es, con­ducts brief­in­gs for the media, and serves as a resource to those work­ing on this issue. DPIC is wide­ly quot­ed and con­sult­ed by all those con­cerned with the death penalty