The Death Penalty in 2014: Year End Report

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 sen­tences have steadi­ly decreased, as Americans have grown more skep­ti­cal of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. The states’ prob­lems with lethal injec­tions also con­tributed to the drop in exe­cu­tions this year.

Executions decreased 10% com­pared to 2013 – from 39 last year to 35 this year – con­tin­u­ing an over­all decline since 1999, when there were 98 exe­cu­tions. The num­ber of states car­ry­ing out exe­cu­tions – sev­en – was the low­est in 25 years. Just three states – Texas, Missouri, and Florida – account­ed for 80% of the exe­cu­tions. For the first time in 17 years, Texas did not lead the coun­try in exe­cu­tions, being tied with Missouri at 10.

Death sen­tences — a more cur­rent barom­e­ter than exe­cu­tions — have declined by 77% since 1996, when there were 315. There were 79 death sen­tences last year. This is the fourth year in a row that there have been few­er than 100 death sentences.

“The rel­e­van­cy of the death penal­ty in our crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem is seri­ous­ly in ques­tion when 43 out of our 50 states do not apply the ulti­mate sanc­tion,” said Richard Dieter, DPIC’s Executive Director and the author of the report. ​“The U.S. will like­ly con­tin­ue with some exe­cu­tions in the years ahead, but the ratio­nale for such spo­radic use is far from clear.”

Seven peo­ple who had been on death row were exon­er­at­ed in 2014, the most since 2009. Three men in Ohio were cleared of all charges 39 years after their con­vic­tions, the longest time of any death row exonerees. Two oth­ers in North Carolina were freed after 30 years in con­fine­ment. Since 1973, 150 peo­ple have been exon­er­at­ed and freed from death row.

Individual state devel­op­ments illus­trate the grow­ing iso­la­tion of death penalty use:

· The num­ber of exe­cu­tions has declined in 11 of the past 15 years. In 1999, 20 states car­ried out exe­cu­tions; in 2014, only 7 states did so.

· For the sev­enth year in a row, Texas had few­er than a dozen death sen­tences, a sharp decline from 1999, when it had 48.[2]

· California (14) and Florida (11) pro­vid­ed 35% of the death sen­tences in the country.

· Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced that no exe­cu­tions would take place while he is gov­er­nor, join­ing the gov­er­nors of Oregon and Colorado in halting executions.

· In California, a fed­er­al judge declared the state’s death penalty unconstitutional.

Mental dis­abil­i­ties loomed as an emerg­ing issue in 2014. The Supreme Court struck down Florida’s restric­tive stan­dards for deter­min­ing intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty in cap­i­tal cas­es. The pend­ing exe­cu­tion of a para­noid schiz­o­phrenic inmate in Texas (Scott Panetti) drew oppo­si­tion from evan­gel­i­cal lead­ers, men­tal health pro­fes­sion­als, and many oth­ers. A fed­er­al court stayed the exe­cu­tion with just hours to spare.

###

The Death Penalty Information Center (www​.death​penal​ty​in​fo​.org) 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.

[1] Two weeks remain in 2014, but based on DPIC’s track­ing of pend­ing cas­es, the total num­ber of death sen­tences will like­ly remain at 72, with an increase of one or two still pos­si­ble, still the low­est num­ber in 40 years.

[2] A Texas-spe­cif­ic report is being released by anoth­er orga­ni­za­tion: see ​“Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2014: The Year in Review” at http://​tcadp​.org/.

DPIC’s 2014 Year End Report was fea­tured in numer­ous edi­to­ri­als since its release on December 18, includ­ing:

• THE NEW YORK TIMES: ​“Thirty-five peo­ple were put to death in 2014, the fewest in 20 years, accord­ing to a report last month by the Death Penalty Information Center.…[W]hile the death penal­ty may be increas­ing­ly infre­quent, it is all too often a bru­tal end to a bru­tal life.…The peo­ple exe­cut­ed in recent years were not the ​‘worst of the worst’ — as many death-penal­ty advo­cates like to imag­ine — but those who were too poor, men­tal­ly ill or dis­abled to avoid it.”
• THE WASHINGTON POST: ​“According to a year-end count from the Death Penalty Information Center, the coun­try sen­tenced 72 peo­ple to death this year, the fewest num­ber in 40 years, down from a high of 315 in 1996.…All states should end the death penal­ty with­in their bor­ders. The risk of exe­cut­ing the inno­cent, evi­denced by the sev­en men who were exon­er­at­ed this year, is unac­cept­able. The finan­cial cost of admin­is­ter­ing death penal­ty sys­tems is also too high. Either con­sid­er­a­tion over­whelms argu­ments about the punishment’s use­ful­ness as a crime deterrent.”
• THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: “[Last year, only 35 inmates were put to death, accord­ing to an annu­al study by the Death Penalty Information Center.…vot­ers are com­ing to real­ize cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment isn’t applied only to those tru­ly guilty of the most heinous crimes. In fact, all too many of those sen­tenced to die turned out to be innocent.”
• THE KANSAS CITY STAR: “[T]he annu­al report about all of this from the Death Penalty Information Center shows that Missouri, Texas and Florida account­ed for 80 per­cent of the exe­cu­tions in 2014.…Reasonable alter­na­tives to the death penal­ty exist, includ­ing, in some cas­es, life in prison with­out parole. These alter­na­tives, which are much less expen­sive to oper­ate, would pre­vent the exe­cu­tion of some peo­ple who aren’t guilty of the crimes they’re con­vict­ed of committing.”
  
• THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: “[T]he Death Penalty Information Center says in its annu­al report, 35 peo­ple have been exe­cut­ed in the United States — down from 98 just 15 years ago.…Capital pun­ish­ment is not going to dis­ap­pear from this coun­try any­time soon. But the more expe­ri­ence Americans have with it, the less they like it.”
  
• THE TOLEDO BLADE: ​“In 2014, U.S. exe­cu­tions fell to a 20-year low — and botched exe­cu­tions in Ohio and oth­er states were part­ly respon­si­ble. …the Death Penalty Information Center reports. …As states con­tin­ue to exper­i­ment with lethal drug cock­tails, Ohioans need to know whether exe­cu­tions here can pro­ceed prop­er­ly. Sadly, the admin­is­tra­tion is mak­ing that practically impossible.”

(Editorial, ​“Ways to make the death penal­ty more fair and humane,” Washington Post, December 31, 2014; Editorial, ​“Shifting Politics on the Death Penalty,” New York Times, January 5, 2015; Editorial, ​“America turn­ing away from death penal­ty: Editorial,” Chicago Sun-Times, December 21, 2014; Editorial, ​“Instead of defy­ing a nation­al trend, Missouri could lead by end­ing the death penal­ty,” Kansas City Star, January 2, 2015; Editorial, ​“The wel­come decline of the death penal­ty,” Chicago Tribune, December 19, 2014; Editorial, ​“Deathly Silence,” Toledo Blade, January 5, 2015).

See 2014 Sentencing Data by Name, Race, and County.

Read media cov­er­age of the 2014 Year End Report.

(Right click on ​“Download” and select ​“Save Linked File” or ​“Save Target File”)

Twitter: Download (GIF)

Facebook: Download (GIF)