Via Deacon Greg
The number of executions in the United States dropped 12 percent in 2010, and the number of people sentenced to die is nearing historic lows, a report from an anti-capital punishment group says.
The Death Penalty Information Center attributed the reductions to changing attitudes toward capital punishment, but acknowledged there have also been problems with the availability of chemicals used in lethal injections. The group counted 46 executions in Texas, Ohio, Alabama, Virginia, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Arizona, Utah and Washington in 2010. That’s fewer than in 2009, when there were 52 executions in 16 states.
Tennessee, South Carolina, Indiana and Missouri did not execute anyone in 2010, but did so in 2009.
Let us pray that we continue to realize the barbarism of the death penalty and work to reduce the number of executions further next year. And we pray for all those on death row today.