Juries imposed far fewer death sentences in each
of the last four years than they did on average over the previous
decade, according to a new report. The Death Penalty Information
Center, which is to release the report tomorrow, attributes the decline
largely to growing public awareness of death-row exonerations and
concerns that innocent people might be sentenced to die. In the 1990's,
an average of 290 people were sentenced to death each year. For the
last four years, the average has been 174. In 2003, there were 143
death sentences issued, the fewest since 1977, the year after the
Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty. [more ]
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
See website for complete article licensing information.
]