Death Sentences Dying Out
According to a recent report by the Death Penalty Information Center, death sentences have been dropping for seven years now. In 1994, sentences peaked with 328, and only 106 were projected for 2009. during the 1990s, the average annual rate of inmates put to death was 295.
The report finds that the greatest decline in death penalties carried out is in Texas, which had nine so far this year. This is notable and most likely due to juries in that state being given the option to apply the sentence of life without parole. Just this year, New Mexico repealed the death penalty, and thus became the 15th state to do so. Following Texas, the sharpest drops in death penalty convictions came in Ohio and Virginia, all who states who lead in number of death penalty convictions.
While the death sentence has been on the decline for the last couple of years, there were more sentences carried out in 2009 (42) than in 2008 (37). The most obvious reason for the decline is the economy. It costs a great deal of money for appeals, and doing away with the sentence keeps those convicted from having to appeal the sentence. The entire process, including the trial, appeal and imprisonment is more expensive then a typical criminal prosecution.
One reason for the decline in death penalty convictions is the decline in murders. According to Ohio State University professor Douglas A. Berman, an expert on sentencing law, the murder rate was relatively low last year. Also, state courts have been making decisions with the major 2008 Supreme Court decision on whether lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment.
The decision came after a case of Baze V. Rees was decided over a 2007 case that asked whether lethal injection in a Kentucky procedure was unconstitutional. Some executions are botched. For Ohio, a three-drug method was used, then switched to a one-drug injection.
James Alan Fox, a criminology professor at Northeastern University explained that the Supreme Court has also been a factor in not allowing juveniles and the mentally handicapped to be executed.
The number of people nationwide is more than 3,000, but the total number of inmates on death row has shrunk 10 percent in the past decade. In Texas alone, there are 330 on death row and 175 in Ohio. California and Pennsylvania both have large death row populations, with 690 and 220.
The number of inmates who stay on death row from more than a quarter of a century is about 75 and most of then are aged 60 or older.
