EnglishLady
Veteran Expediter
Sky News Dec 21
Execution numbers in the US penitentiary system have dropped by 12%, claims a new report
According to the Death Penalty Information Centre, the number of people being executed fell over the last year, while those sentenced to die in the US is at its lowest since 1976.
The report attributes the numbers to changing attitudes toward capital punishment, problems with the availability of lethal injection chemicals and rising costs in death penalty prosecutions.
A total of 46 people were put to death in Texas, Ohio, Florida, Utah, Georgia, Louisiana, Arizona, Virginia, Washington, Utah, Oklahoma and Mississippi during 2010.
The figure is down on the 52 executions carried out in 2009.
"Whether it’s concerns about the high costs of the death penalty... the risks of executing the innocent, unfairness, or other reasons, the nation continued to move away from the death penalty in 2010."
Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center
Thirty-five US states still actively practise the death penalty, though a number of these - South Carolina, Missouri, Indiana and Tennessee - did not execute anyone in 2010.
"Whether it’s concerns about the high costs of the death penalty at a time when budgets are being slashed, the risks of executing the innocent, unfairness, or other reasons, the nation continued to move away from the death penalty in 2010," said the report’s author, Richard Dieter.
The report cites a recent poll, which showed a clear majority (61%) of the public favoured some form of life imprisonment, while only 33% supported the death penalty as a form of punishment.
Despite this, the report added that the difficulty in obtaining sodium thiopental, one the chemicals used in lethal injections, could also be a factor in the lower numbers.
Executions were either delayed or cancelled in five states due to a lack of the chemical being available.
Arizona has previously imported it from the UK, but exports have now been restricted due to Britain's objection to the death penalty.
Execution numbers in the US penitentiary system have dropped by 12%, claims a new report
According to the Death Penalty Information Centre, the number of people being executed fell over the last year, while those sentenced to die in the US is at its lowest since 1976.
The report attributes the numbers to changing attitudes toward capital punishment, problems with the availability of lethal injection chemicals and rising costs in death penalty prosecutions.
A total of 46 people were put to death in Texas, Ohio, Florida, Utah, Georgia, Louisiana, Arizona, Virginia, Washington, Utah, Oklahoma and Mississippi during 2010.
The figure is down on the 52 executions carried out in 2009.
"Whether it’s concerns about the high costs of the death penalty... the risks of executing the innocent, unfairness, or other reasons, the nation continued to move away from the death penalty in 2010."
Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center
Thirty-five US states still actively practise the death penalty, though a number of these - South Carolina, Missouri, Indiana and Tennessee - did not execute anyone in 2010.
"Whether it’s concerns about the high costs of the death penalty at a time when budgets are being slashed, the risks of executing the innocent, unfairness, or other reasons, the nation continued to move away from the death penalty in 2010," said the report’s author, Richard Dieter.
The report cites a recent poll, which showed a clear majority (61%) of the public favoured some form of life imprisonment, while only 33% supported the death penalty as a form of punishment.
Despite this, the report added that the difficulty in obtaining sodium thiopental, one the chemicals used in lethal injections, could also be a factor in the lower numbers.
Executions were either delayed or cancelled in five states due to a lack of the chemical being available.
Arizona has previously imported it from the UK, but exports have now been restricted due to Britain's objection to the death penalty.
