US imposes fewer death penalties

originally published:
18th December 2009

The number of death sentences imposed by US courts has fallen because of a growing number of exonerations through DNA testing, according to a report by a prominent anti-death penalty group.

The Death Penalty Information Centre in Washington says judges and juries imposed fewer death sentences over the past 12 months than at any time since the restoration of execution in 1976.

This year 106 death sentences have been passed, the seventh straight year the number has fallen and sharply down on the high of 328 in 1994. Richard Dieter, DPIC’s director and author of the report, said the fall reflected growing concern over the reliability of convictions. “The principal reason is the innocence cases, the exonerations, people getting out because of DNA testing.

“People read about these exonerations, people walking out of prison 20 years after the crime. Jurors are convicting but giving life sentences not the death penalty.” DPIC said nine condemned men were exonerated in 2009, the second highest number of exonerations since the death penalty was reinstated.

The Innocence Project says that overall 245 convicts have subsequently been cleared by DNA evidence across the US. Yesterday a man was released after 35 years in prison for raping a child.

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Posted by Alison Leslie on 23/12/2009. Filed under Capital Punishment,Questionable Convictions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry