Death Penalty Use in 2015 Declines
Sharply
Fewest
Executions, Fewest Death Sentences, and Fewest States Employing the Death
Penalty in Decades
A report by the Death
Penalty Information Center shows that the use of the death penalty declined by
virtually every measure in 2015. There were only 28 executions, which is the
lowest number since 1991. Fourteen states and the federal government imposed 49
new death sentences, a 33% decline over 2014 and the lowest number since the
early 1970s when the death penalty was halted by the US Supreme Court.
Similarly public
support for the death penalty continued to fall in 2015, with various polls
showing a huge decrease since in support since the peak years of the 1980s and
1990s.
There were six
exonerations in 2015, bringing the total to 156 innocent men and women who have
been released from death row since 1973.
A summary of the
report can be found at:
This also gives a
link to the full report.
