Death Sentences Hit 30-Year Low

Death sentences fell to a 30-year low in the U.S. in 2006 and for the first time in 20 years a majority of Americans say they favor alternative sentencing over the death penalty, according to a new report by the Death Penalty Information Center. Actual executions also declined last year, the report said.

The center's 2006 year end report showed a continuing trend away from capital punishment in the U.S. with fewer sentences handed out, fewer executions, and a decline in the population of death row over the past six years.

"The American public has turned an important corner in this debate. Support for the death penalty is on the decline and more people are embracing the alternative sentence of life without parole, which is now available in almost every state," said Richard Dieter, Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center. "Capital punishment is risky, expensive, and could result in irreversible error. Fewer people are now willing to put their faith in such a flawed policy."

According to the DPIC report:

• The number of executions in 2006 reached a 10-year low of 53, down 46% since its highpoint in 1999.

• The number of people sentenced to death annually has dropped by nearly 60% since 1999, falling from nearly 300 death sentences annually in the 1990s to a projected 114 death sentences this year.

• The size of death row decreased for the fifth consecutive year after 25 years of increases, declining from 3,415 last year to 3,366 in 2006.

• Issues over lethal injections stopped executions in Arkansas, California, Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, South Dakota, and in the federal system in 2006.

More Information:

• The_Death_Penalty
  
• The Only Justice for Killers?
  
• Women on Death Row

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