THE GUARDIAN: Opposition to capital punishment reaches record levels as numbers of executions and new death sentences continue to fall
Mounting opposition to the death penalty in America is starting to take effect, with the number of executions as well as newly imposed death sentences falling to record low levels in 2011.
As the year draws to a close, the annual review by the authoritative Death Penalty Information Centre points to an ongoing withering of the practice of judicial killings in the US [pdf]. The reduction in executions is matched by the rise in public disapproval of the sentence.
There were 43 executions this year, down from 46 last year and 85 in 2000. Some 78 prisoners were added to the population of death rows – the first time since the death penalty was reintroduced in 1976 that new sentences have dropped below the 100 mark. Last year 112 people were sentenced to death, and 224 in 2000.
"The multitude of problems associated with the death penalty is gradually convincing Americans that it can no longer be sustained," concludes Richard Dieter, the director of the information centre.
While the application of the death penalty fell, America's tolerance of it also declined. The highlight of the year was the execution of Troy Davis in Georgia in September that saw an outpouring of disgust and outrage at an intensity rarely seen within the country. » Ed Pilkington, New York | Thursday, December 15, 2011
