The number of people executed in 2015 reached its lowest number in a quarter century, according to a new study.
A new study released by the Death Penalty Information Center found that 28 people were executed this year, the lowest since 1991. Those executions took place in six states, and the majority happened in just three states — Texas (13), Missouri (six) and Georgia (five).
This year was the first time in 24 years that the number of executions was below 30.
“The use of the death penalty is becoming increasingly rare and increasingly isolated in the United States,” Robert Dunham, DPIC’s executive director, said in a statement. “These are not just annual blips in statistics, but reflect a broad change in attitudes about capital punishment across the country.”
The number of newly administered death sentences (49) decreased by 33 percent over the last year, bringing it to its lowest number since 1972 when the Supreme Court halted capital punishment.
One county — Riverside in California — accounted for 16 percent of these new sentences. More than a quarter of the newly imposed death penalties were imposed by Florida and Alabama after non-unanimous jury recommendations of death, a practice barred in all but three states.
There are currently less than 3,000 people on death row for the first time since 1995, the study also revealed.
Public opinion of the death penalty is in decline as well. In 1994, 80 percent of Americans said they support the death penalty, according to Gallup’s historical data. Gallup’s last poll, conducted October 2015, showed that number had declined to 61 percent.
Since 2007, capital punishment has been abolished in six states: Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico and New York.
