A Year Without Executions

For the first time on record, not a single criminal was executed in the U.S. last year. The number of executions has sharply declined since 1930, when the Federal Government first began keeping track of them; in 1967, only two persons were executed. One major reason for the decline is growing public opposition to capital punishment, which has led some states to abolish it. More than 435 prisoners reside on death rows across the U.S. They received stays of execution last year either because of individual appeals or because the death penalty itself is under attack in the courts on constitutional grounds.

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