In 2016, 30 people were sentenced to death in the United States, the lowest number since the early 1970s and a sharp decline from the 49 people handed the death penalty in 2015 and the 315 sentenced to death in 1996, the peak year, according to a new report from the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC). The 20 executions carried out also marked a 25-year low — 14 people were put to death in 1991 — and a drop from last year's 28 executions and the 1999 apex, 98.
"I think we are watching a major political climate change concerning capital punishment and it's reflected among reduced death sentences across the country," said Robert Dunham, executive director of the DPIC, which opposes capital punishment. The decline in executions is also attributable to a shortage of drugs used in lethal-injection cocktails and more aggressive legal challenges by defendants. Still, only 49 percent of Americans now support the death penalty, according to a recent Pew poll, the lowest number since the mid-1960s and a big drop from the 80 percent who favored capital punishment in 1994.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments lawSpeed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security lawSpeed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitutionspeed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidenceSpeed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulationsSpeed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriageSpeed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law
-
Trump and his lawyer Alina Habba have a rough day in defamation courtSpeed Read Trump's audible grousing as E. Jean Carroll testified earned him a warning he could be thrown out of court, and Habba showed she 'doesn't know what the hell she's doing'
