In a sweeping look at the current state of the U.S. death penalty, USA Today reporters Richard Wolf and Kevin Johnson highlight several recent story lines that collectively illustrate a dramatic decline in the country’s use of capital punishment. Their conclusion: “The death penalty in America may be living on borrowed time.” Wolf and Johnson recount recent cases in which high-profile crimes resulted in a life without parole sentence, in many instances because victims’ families raised concerns about the painful emotional impact of a lengthy appeals process. Skeet Glover, whose father and stepmother were killed in Texas, explained his family’s support for a plea deal resulting in a life without parole sentence: “As a family, we were going to do this together. I couldn’t help my dad anymore. I couldn’t help (stepmother) Peggy … and I didn’t want to punish anyone else in the family…There are no regrets.” The article also tells the stories of death row exonerees, including the seven men exonerated in the last two years after spending 30 years or more on death row, and persistent questions of innocence for inmates still facing execution. The story then turns to ongoing battles in courts and legislatures. It chronicles the difficulties surrounding lethal injection, from trade regulations and opposition from the medical community that has made it more difficult for states to obtain execution drugs to legal challenges against execution protocols. Legislative action has shown “a clear trend in favor of retreat or repeal,” the article states, noting the seven states that have recently repealed capital punishment, and the four states where moratoriums are in place. (Click image to enlarge.)

(R. Wolf and K. Johnson, “Courts, states put death penalty on life support,” USA Today, September 14, 2015.) See Recent Legislation and Innocence.

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