Executions, new death sentences and public support for the death penalty in the United States remained at their lowest levels in decades this year as half of the country has abolished the death penalty or imposed a moratorium on executions, according to the annual report of a death penalty research group released on Tuesday. The group, the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that opposes capital punishment, found that states carried out fewer than 30 executions and imposed fewer than 50 new death sentences for the fifth year in a row, continuing sharp declines since 1999, when there were nearly 100 executions. California instituted a moratorium on executions, New Hampshire became the 21st state to abolish the death penalty entirely and Indiana has gone a decade with no executions, the report said. On death row: 2,656While executions and new death sentences have declined over the years, so have the number of inmates on states’ death rows.

Source: New York Times December 17, 2019 04:52 UTC