A new report on the death penalty found that the number of executions in 2013 dropped 10 percent, to 39, but they increased slightly in Texas and Florida, two states that accounted for 59 percent of the nation’s total.
The Death Penalty Information Center said in its annual report that support for executions also dropped to a 40-year low. However, there were 80 death sentences leveled in 2013, a slight increase over 2012.
“Twenty years ago, use of the death penalty was increasing. Now it is declining by almost every measure,” said Richard Dieter, DPIC’s executive director 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.”
From his report:
— Death row. The number of people on death row continued to decline. As of April 1, 2013, there were 3,108 inmates on death rows across the country, compared to 3,170 at the same time last year. The total population on death row has decreased every year since 2001. In 2000, 3,670 inmates were under sentence of death.
Paul Bedard, The Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
