The Death Penalty Information Center has released its 2017 year-end report, highlighting that:
- Death Sentences and Executions are at their second-lowest point in 25 Years
- Public Support for Death Penalty is at a 45-year low
This is good news as we keep our eyes on 2018 efforts to repeal the death penalty here in New Hampshire. All 10 denominations in the NH Council of Churches have worked together and unanimously to repeal: Read our statement here.
From the report:
Executions and death sentences remained near historically low levels in 2017, as public support for the death penalty fell to its lowest level in 45 years, according to a report released today by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC). Eight states carried out 23 executions, half the number of seven years ago, and the second lowest total since 1991. Only the 20 executions in 2016 were lower. Fourteen states and the federal government are projected to impose 39 new death sentences in 2017, the second lowest annual total since the U.S. Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972. It was the seventh year in a row that fewer than 100 death sentences were imposed nationwide.
Featured image: Delaware death-row exoneree Isaiah McCoy walks to freedom upon his release from the Howard R. Young Correctional Institution in Wilmington in January 2017. Photograph courtesy of Attorney Herbert Mondros.