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Death penalty in the United States gradually declining
(CNN) -- A shortage of lethal injection chemicals has contributed to declining use of capital punishment in the United States with a new report on Thursday noting only 39 executions this year.
It is only the second time in the past two decades the annual number of inmates put to death has dropped below 40.
The total represents a 10 percent reduction from last year. No further executions are scheduled in 2013.
"Twenty years ago, use of the death penalty was increasing. Now it is declining by almost every measure," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, and the author of the report.
"The recurrent problems of the death penalty have made its application rare, isolated, and often delayed for decades. More states will likely reconsider the wisdom of retaining this expensive and ineffectual practice."
The nonprofit organization provides accurate figures and a range of analysis, but opposes use of the death penalty.
While the annual number of executions and death sentences continues to drop nationally overall, it remains a legally and socially acceptable form of justice for aggravated murder in 32 states.
But just nine states conducted lethal injections this year, and two -- Texas with 16 and Florida with 7 -- accounted for nearly 60 percent of the total.
Texas is among the active death-penalty states scrambling to find new lethal injection protocols after European-based manufacturers banned U.S. prisons from using their drugs in executions.
Among them is Danish-based Lundbeck, which manufactures pentobarbital, the most commonly used -- either as a single drug, or in combination with others -- to execute prisoners.
States have been forced to try new drug combinations or go to loosely regulated compounding pharmacies that manufacturer variations of the drugs banned by the larger companies, according to an investigation last month by CNN's Deborah Feyerick.
A pending lawsuit against Texas filed by several death row inmates and their supporters alleges the state corrections department falsified a prescription for pentobarbital using an alias.
Until recently, most states relied on a three-drug "cocktail," but many jurisdictions now use a single dose or a two-drug combination.
Various state and federal courts have postponed some planned executions until issues surrounding the new protocols are resolved.
Every execution this year relied on pentobarbital, except in Florida, which used midazolam hydrochloride -- a drug applied for the first time in human lethal injections.
And Missouri was prepared to inject a single dose of the anesthetic propofol for its two recent executions, until Gov. Jay Nixon halted its application.
The European Union had threatened to limit export of the widely used drug for other purposes if the state had proceeded. The two inmates were separately put to death in recent weeks using pentobarbital instead.
Among the high-profile capital cases this year involved Kimberly McCarthy, the first woman executed in the United States in three years.
The former Dallas-area resident was convicted of murdering her neighbor, and in June became the state's 500th prisoner to die at the hands of the government since 1976, when the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume.
So far, 1,359 people have been put to death across the country since that time, using lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber, hanging, and firing squad. That includes three federal prisoners.
Spared for now was Georgia inmate Warren Hill, whose attorneys say he is mentally disabled. Courts earlier this year stayed three separate execution dates, one with just minutes to spare.
The Supreme Court in March will hold oral arguments and decide whether the Florida scheme for identifying mentally disabled defendants in capital cases violates previous standards established by the high court.
Freddie Lee Hall and an accomplice were convicted of the 1978 murders of a pregnant 21-year-old woman and a sheriff's deputy in separate store robberies, both on the same day. His lawyers say the death row inmate has an IQ of 60.
In Missouri, Reginald Griffin was freed in October and his sentence thrown out after the state high court found the trial prosecution withheld critical evidence that may have implicated another prisoner in a jailhouse murder.
He became the 143rd person exonerated from death row in the past 40 years.
The justices in most cases continue to deny most requests for stays of executions, usually without any comment, or a breakdown of which members of the nine-member bench might have granted such a delay.
"It certainly seems that it merits another day in court after 40 years," said Evan Mandery, a law professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and author of the new book "A Wild Justice: The Death and Resurrection of Capital Punishment in America."
"There are a lot of reasons to think that (moderate-conservative) Justice Anthony Kennedy's vote is up for grabs and his mind is open on this question. So I don't think the outcome of a case would be predetermined one way or another."
But there is no sign such a monumental legal and social review by the nation's highest court will be coming soon.
SOURCE: http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/19/politics/death-penalty-us/index.html?hpt=ju_c2
It is only the second time in the past two decades the annual number of inmates put to death has dropped below 40.
The total represents a 10 percent reduction from last year. No further executions are scheduled in 2013.
"Twenty years ago, use of the death penalty was increasing. Now it is declining by almost every measure," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, and the author of the report.
"The recurrent problems of the death penalty have made its application rare, isolated, and often delayed for decades. More states will likely reconsider the wisdom of retaining this expensive and ineffectual practice."
The nonprofit organization provides accurate figures and a range of analysis, but opposes use of the death penalty.
While the annual number of executions and death sentences continues to drop nationally overall, it remains a legally and socially acceptable form of justice for aggravated murder in 32 states.
But just nine states conducted lethal injections this year, and two -- Texas with 16 and Florida with 7 -- accounted for nearly 60 percent of the total.
Texas is among the active death-penalty states scrambling to find new lethal injection protocols after European-based manufacturers banned U.S. prisons from using their drugs in executions.
Among them is Danish-based Lundbeck, which manufactures pentobarbital, the most commonly used -- either as a single drug, or in combination with others -- to execute prisoners.
States have been forced to try new drug combinations or go to loosely regulated compounding pharmacies that manufacturer variations of the drugs banned by the larger companies, according to an investigation last month by CNN's Deborah Feyerick.
A pending lawsuit against Texas filed by several death row inmates and their supporters alleges the state corrections department falsified a prescription for pentobarbital using an alias.
Until recently, most states relied on a three-drug "cocktail," but many jurisdictions now use a single dose or a two-drug combination.
Various state and federal courts have postponed some planned executions until issues surrounding the new protocols are resolved.
Every execution this year relied on pentobarbital, except in Florida, which used midazolam hydrochloride -- a drug applied for the first time in human lethal injections.
And Missouri was prepared to inject a single dose of the anesthetic propofol for its two recent executions, until Gov. Jay Nixon halted its application.
The European Union had threatened to limit export of the widely used drug for other purposes if the state had proceeded. The two inmates were separately put to death in recent weeks using pentobarbital instead.
Among the high-profile capital cases this year involved Kimberly McCarthy, the first woman executed in the United States in three years.
The former Dallas-area resident was convicted of murdering her neighbor, and in June became the state's 500th prisoner to die at the hands of the government since 1976, when the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume.
So far, 1,359 people have been put to death across the country since that time, using lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber, hanging, and firing squad. That includes three federal prisoners.
Spared for now was Georgia inmate Warren Hill, whose attorneys say he is mentally disabled. Courts earlier this year stayed three separate execution dates, one with just minutes to spare.
The Supreme Court in March will hold oral arguments and decide whether the Florida scheme for identifying mentally disabled defendants in capital cases violates previous standards established by the high court.
Freddie Lee Hall and an accomplice were convicted of the 1978 murders of a pregnant 21-year-old woman and a sheriff's deputy in separate store robberies, both on the same day. His lawyers say the death row inmate has an IQ of 60.
In Missouri, Reginald Griffin was freed in October and his sentence thrown out after the state high court found the trial prosecution withheld critical evidence that may have implicated another prisoner in a jailhouse murder.
He became the 143rd person exonerated from death row in the past 40 years.
The justices in most cases continue to deny most requests for stays of executions, usually without any comment, or a breakdown of which members of the nine-member bench might have granted such a delay.
"It certainly seems that it merits another day in court after 40 years," said Evan Mandery, a law professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and author of the new book "A Wild Justice: The Death and Resurrection of Capital Punishment in America."
"There are a lot of reasons to think that (moderate-conservative) Justice Anthony Kennedy's vote is up for grabs and his mind is open on this question. So I don't think the outcome of a case would be predetermined one way or another."
But there is no sign such a monumental legal and social review by the nation's highest court will be coming soon.
SOURCE: http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/19/politics/death-penalty-us/index.html?hpt=ju_c2
I guess another way to put it is, I don't trust the system to not be corrupt these days
I do disagree with the death penalty after seeing so many people, years after being convicted being proven innocent thru dna testing. I have evolved.
Everytime a post about the death penalty comes up I find myself struggling. I honestly don't know if I agree or not. I think I still have to say against, although if I am honest with myself, there are some that I think should be put to death for some of the horrific things they do.
I don't know, always a very tough one for me. Not sure what I believe in this case I guess.
I don't know, always a very tough one for me. Not sure what I believe in this case I guess.
There have been some instances in which DNA has been able to exonerate people convicted in older crimes, when DNA testing wasn't available, so in those cases, I'd say to err on the side of caution. However, DNA testing has been available for quite a long time now and whenever it's used correctly and ethically, there really shouldn't have to be a delay.
I'm not necessarily for or against the death penalty; the punishment should match the crime... Why should a murderer have the opportunity to sit on death row for years and years and appeal time after time? S/he didn't give the person they murdered years and years and multiple chances to appeal... The longer you let them sit on death row, the more they end up costing the taxpayer.
I'm not necessarily for or against the death penalty; the punishment should match the crime... Why should a murderer have the opportunity to sit on death row for years and years and appeal time after time? S/he didn't give the person they murdered years and years and multiple chances to appeal... The longer you let them sit on death row, the more they end up costing the taxpayer.
The average time spent on Death Row is about 15 years. Florida had one die recently of natural causes after spending 40 years on D.R.
I don’t even know why California bothers having a D.R. The Death Penalty was reinstated in 76. Since then they have only executed 13 people. The last one executed, spent 26 years on D.R. and was 77 Y.O. California has 731 people on D.R.
Derrick Todd Lee nick named “The Baton Rouge Serial Killer” has been sentenced since 2004 (12 years) for Brutally Raping and Killing women.
so, I don’t see that as rushing toward anything.
I don’t even know why California bothers having a D.R. The Death Penalty was reinstated in 76. Since then they have only executed 13 people. The last one executed, spent 26 years on D.R. and was 77 Y.O. California has 731 people on D.R.
Derrick Todd Lee nick named “The Baton Rouge Serial Killer” has been sentenced since 2004 (12 years) for Brutally Raping and Killing women.
so, I don’t see that as rushing toward anything.
As more prisoners are proven innocent because of DNA testing, it shows how very important it is to not rush towards the death penalty.
But I do agree, life in prison could indeed be worse than the death penalty.
But I do agree, life in prison could indeed be worse than the death penalty.
Although I don't disagree with the death-penalty, I WILL say that the though of spending the rest of ones natural'life in prison is a FAR greater deterrent, to a criminal (I'd think so anyway).
In my mind, the death-penalty (although warranted in some instances), is a cop'out and allows criminals to get off "easy" (relatively speaking).
Some might feel that 'death' is the ultimate penalty, but I think that LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF PAROLE served in General-Population, for all crimes that warrant it, is a bigger deterrent & penalty.
Anyone?
In my mind, the death-penalty (although warranted in some instances), is a cop'out and allows criminals to get off "easy" (relatively speaking).
Some might feel that 'death' is the ultimate penalty, but I think that LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF PAROLE served in General-Population, for all crimes that warrant it, is a bigger deterrent & penalty.
Anyone?
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