Executions hit 20-year low in 2014; which seven states carried them out?
Image from Shutterstock.
Thirty-five people were executed in the United States in 2014, the lowest number in 20 years.
The number of new death sentences imposed this year—72 so far–also declined, reaching the lowest level since 1974, when states resumed capital punishment following a Supreme Court decision invalidating arbitrary death penalty laws. The statistics are summarized in a report (PDF) released today by the Death Penalty Information Center. A press release is here.
Only seven states carried out executions this year. Texas, Missouri and Florida accounted for 80 percent of the executions. The other four states are Oklahoma, Georgia, Ohio and Arizona.
Seven former death-row inmates were exonerated this year, the highest number since 2009, the report says.
The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) spoke with legal experts about the reasons for the decline in the death penalty. Fordham University law professor Deborah Denno told the newspaper that DNA evidence was a factor. “For the first time, you had this airtight, scientific evidence cutting down convictions,” Denno said.
Another factor is state adoption of an alternative—life without parole—in more than half the states since the 1990s, the story says.
