The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) recently released its annual death penalty report, and their findings were incredibly encouraging. Death sentences, executions, and support for the death penalty are either at or near historic lows. The death penalty has also been increasingly relegated to a super minority of states and counties, as most localities eschew its use.
In 2017, there were unfortunately 23 executions, but this total was the second lowest in about a quarter century. Moreover, roughly 75% of these executions occurred in only 4 states. The overwhelming majority of states simply do not execute inmates.
There were an estimated 39 death sentences delivered last year, which is the second lowest number in the modern era. Over 30% of these came from just 3 counties, while the other 3,140 counties accounted for the remaining 27 death sentences. This is further evidence that capital punishment is being confined to a few, isolated locations.
The death penalty’s decline can also plainly be seen in what was once considered capital punishment’s epicenter – Harris County, TX. More people have been sentenced to die there than in any other county in the U.S., but in 2017, no person was sentenced to die or executed from Harris County. It appears that Texans are also moving away from capital punishment.
Support for the death penalty is also sagging. The most recent Gallup poll found it to be the lowest in 45 years. The poll also showed that Republican support for capital punishment fell 10 points in a single year, which means that Republicans’ approval of the death penalty is the lowest it has been since before 1988.
There are other signs of the death penalty’s decline. According to our report, The Right Way, Republican legislators are increasingly championing efforts to repeal the death penalty. In fact, in the year 2000, there were only 4 Republican death penalty repeal sponsors, and for the next 12 years, that number never rose above single digits. But by 2013 – the year CCATDP launched – that number surged to 20. By 2016, it peaked at 40 Republican death penalty repeal sponsors. Republican momentum to end capital punishment is real, and it is clearly gaining steam.
Thanks for being an integral part of this change!