The Decline of the Death Penalty over the Past 25 Years, with Brandon Garrett

Discussions With DPI

Robin Konrad, DPIC’s Director of Research and Special Projects, inter­views University of Virginia law pro­fes­sor Brandon Garrett about his new book End of Its Rope: How Killing the Death Penalty Can Revive Criminal Justice. Professor Garrett researched and ana­lyzed all the death sen­tences imposed in the U.S. dur­ing the past 25 years to deter­mine what fac­tors have led to the pre­cip­i­tous decline in the num­ber of peo­ple who are being sen­tenced to death. In this pod­cast, Professor Garrett dis­cuss­es these fac­tors, which include a decrease in mur­der rates, the cre­ation of state-wide pub­lic defend­er offices, and jurors who are increas­ing­ly unwill­ing to return death sentences.