Application of the Death Penalty by States Is at All-Time Lows

It appears that the application of the death penalty in America may soon become a thing of the past.

According to The Hill, 2016 has been a year that has seen the fewest number of convicted criminals sentenced to die since the Supreme Court���s famous 1976 Gregg v. Georgia decision reinstating capital punishment. The clear trend away from imposing the death penalty throughout the country signals, in the minds of many observers, a broad shift in how it is now viewed by a predominant number of Americans.

In his comments about the declining use of the death penalty in America, Robert Dunham of the anti-capital punishment Death Penalty Information Center declared, ���America is in the midst of a major climate change concerning capital punishment.���

���Whether it's concerns about innocence, costs and discrimination, availability of life without parole as a safe alternative, or the questionable way in which states are attempting to carry out executions, the public grows increasingly uncomfortable with the death penalty each year,��� Dunham said.

30 people were sentenced to death this year in the United States. That���s nearly 40 percent less than the number sentenced to the same fate in 2015, and that year���s figure represented a record low, to that point, since the Supreme Court���s reaffirmation of capital punishment.

As for executions actually carried out in 2016, there were just 20, which is the lowest figure since 1991.

Presently, 19 states, along with the District of Columbia, have abolished the death penalty, while governors in several more states have effectively issued moratoriums on its administration.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large