News and Developments 2008: Sentencing

Death Penalty Sentences Have Dropped Considerably in the Current Decade

Posted: December 19, 2008
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Compared to the 1990’s, there has been a marked decline in death sentences in the U.S. since 2000. Every region of the country and every state that averaged one or more death sentences per year have seen a decline in the annual number of death sentences. The chart below compares the annual number of death sentences in each state in the 1990s with the 2000s. North Carolina, California, Florida, and Texas experienced the greatest declines in sentencing.  This issue and others are addressed in the Death Penalty Information Center’s Year End Report, released December 11, 2008.

 

 

Jurors Find Difficulty with Prospect of Handing Down Death Sentences

Posted: November 03, 2008
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Ohio’s Franklin County (Columbus) has been experiencing a steady decline in death penalty indictments and death sentences as jurors are increasingly choosing sentences of life in prison without parole and prosecutors are seeking fewer death sentences. In a recent capital case, the judge had a difficult time finding jurors who would likely follow state law and consider a death sentence. One prospective juror, a 36-year-old truck driver, explained that while he favors the death penalty, he would have a hard time handing down a death penalty verdict because, “It would haunt me for the rest of my life.”

Judge Stephen L. McIntosh excused him, along with 22 others from the 72-person jury pool, because of their attitudes about capital punishment. One prospective juror that remained in the pool, answered after many rounds of difficult questioning that she felt capable of following the state’s laws on capital punishment sentencing. Later, the judge’s bailiff found her crying in the jury room over her struggle with the issue. Judge McIntosh noted, “This isn’t easy. I think it would be difficult for me as well.”

Changes in Federal Death Penalty Statistics

Posted: October 31, 2008
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The number of federal death sentences has increased in the past seven years, while the number of state death sentences has declined. The size of the federal death row has tripled since 2000, while the number of people on state death rows has dropped. There has also been a marked increase in the number of people on the federal death row from states that do not have their own death penalty laws.

From 1994 to 2000, there were 17 federal death sentences. From 2001 to 2007, there were 36 federal death sentences, while the annual number of state death sentences declined about 60% during this time. There were 19 inmates on the federal death row in 2000; today there are 57 inmates. The latest person to receive a federal death sentence is Rejon Taylor. A federal jury in Tennessee voted to impose a death sentence on Oct. 21, 2008. The judge is required to follow the jury's verdict, but has not formally imposed the sentence. About 58% of the inmates on the federal death row are (like Taylor) members of minorities.

Texas Jury Chooses Life Sentence In High Profile Case

Posted: May 21, 2008
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In a potential death penalty case in Houston, Texas, a jury sentenced Juan Quintero to life without parole on May 20 for the murder of a police officer. One juror, Tiffany Moore, described her experience as very emotional, “I was torn up. I was crying. . . .I still feel we came to the right decision,” she said. “We could never bring Rodney back.

DPIC Releases Interim Death Row Numbers

Posted: February 18, 2008
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The Death Penalty Information Center has conducted a survey of death row populations as reported by the various state departments of correction in January/February 2008. From that survey, the current death row population across the country is 3,263. California continues to have the highest death row population with 669 inmates. Florida follows with 388, and Texas has 370 inmates. A state-by-state breakdown appears below.

Except for Illinois and the federal government, these numbers are the official totals from each state's prison system. The death row number for Illinois comes from the Supreme Court Unit of the Public Defender's Office in Springfield, while the federal number comes from the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel and the Federal Defender Organization.

Sentencing News and Developments: 2007

Posted: January 08, 2008
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DPIC RELEASES 2007 YEAR END REPORT NOTING DECLINE IN DEATH PENALTY USE

The Death Penalty Information Center has released its 13th annual Year End Report, noting that executions have dropped to a 13-year low as a de facto moratorium took hold in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s examination of lethal injection procedures.