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US Executions Drop for Second Straight Year: Washinton Post
Executions in the United States have decreased for the second straight year, with sharp declines in leading death penalty states Texas and Virginia, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
The newspaper said this year marked the first time since the death penalty was restored in 1976 that executions had dropped significantly nationwide for two years in a row.
The most striking change had taken place in Texas, which had put 12 people to death this year and had sheduled six more executions, the Post said. Texas set a record last year with the execution of 40 inmates.
Virginia had carried out one execution this year and had one scheduled, compared with eight executions last year and 14 in 1999, the newspaper said.
The report said executions were down in nine of the 11 states that historically had put the most inmates to death. Thirty-eight states have capital punishment.
Across the nation, 48 people have been put to death in 2001, down 27 percent from a year ago. With 14 more executions scheduled, this year's total could be down a third from the 1999 high of 98, according to the newspaper.
The report attributed the declines to a 10-year drop in crime and a decrease in public support of the death penalty.
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