U.S. executions hit 25-year low as capital punishment wanes-study

[man on the moonshine]

Source: Reuters

Wed Dec 21, 2016 | 12:11am EST

By Jon Herskovitz | AUSTIN, Texas

The number of U.S. executions fell to a quarter-century low in 2016 as new death sentences plummeted, indicating capital punishment is on the decline, a study released on Wednesday showed.

The number of U.S. executions in 2016 was 20, the lowest since 1991, according to the study from the Death Penalty Information Center, which monitors capital punishment.

While 31 states have the death penalty, only five held executions in 2016. Georgia carried out the most at nine while Texas was next at seven, it said.

The number of new death sentences in 2016 is expected to hit 30, a low not seen since the U.S. Supreme Court declared existing death penalty statutes unconstitutional in 1972, it said. That figure is down by more than 90 percent from a recent high of 315 in 1996.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-executions-idUSKBN14A0AO

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No need to worry, America: Under Trump's SCOTUS, jaywalking will be a capital crime.

[Feeling the Bern]

1. Should be ZERO. Only third world hellholes and authoritarian regimes use capital punishment

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

2. If Apartheid South Africa could end the death penalty...

I would really like to believe we can too.

[cannabis_flower]

3. Texas became the last of the death penalty states

to approve life without parole in September 2005, after Harris County prosecutors dropped their opposition to the change. The law applies only to offenders convicted of capital murder. ... The change has led to fewer death sentences in Texas and nationwide.


http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Nearly-400-capital-murder-convicts-get-life-2299362.php

[IronLionZion]

4. Trump will make death great again

Protesting his policies will be a capital crime