Death penalty sentences at 2nd-lowest level in 25 years: Report

Death penalty sentences and executions are at their second lowest level in 25 years — symbolic of the “long-term change in capital punishment in the United States.”

A new report from the Death Penalty Information Center shows there were just 23 executions in 2017 — the second lowest total since 1991. In addition, there were only 39 new death sentences imposed in 2017, the second lowest annual total since 1972 and the seventh year in a row that fewer than 100 sentences were imposed nationwide.