An unprecedented series of recent court rulings that halted the execution of eight Arkansas prisoners reflects a decades-long national trend that has sharply curtailed
the use of capital punishment.
Death penalty experts say the court decisions are in keeping with a number of factors prompting executions in the United States to decline, including challenges based on DNA evidence, litigation over the drugs used in executions and increased use of life without parole as a sentencing option.
Federal judge blocks 6 executions in 10 days in Arkansas
Here are the 8 inmates Arkansas planned to execute in 11 days
Arkansas judge blocks state from using lethal drug
Prisoner executions nationwide have plummeted over the past two decades, decreasing nearly every year since 1999, when 98 prisoners were executed. There were 20 prisoner executions nationwide in 2016, the fewest since 1991.
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The growth of life-without-parole as a sentencing option in many states, as well as the high cost of prosecuting a capital case, has led prosecutors to push for the death penalty in fewer cases, said Michael Benza, senior instructor of law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
“If you think of the death penalty as sort of a freeway, it’s actually becoming more of a country lane with everybody peeling off into all kinds of different non-capital ways,” he said.
Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham University School of Law, said the use of DNA evidence has led to closer scrutiny of death penalty cases by both the legasystem and the general public.
“We’ve seen a precipitous decline since 1999 and probably a lot of that had to do with these innocence cases,” she said. “Attorneys were starting to introduce DNA into court, and you had these cases showing that people were innocent.”
Although lethal injection became the nation’s primary method of execution in the 1990s, Denno said it is only in recent years that sustained challenges by death row inmates and death penalty opponents have gained traction in the court system
Death penalty experts say the court decisions are in keeping with a number of factors prompting executions in the United States to decline, including challenges based on DNA evidence, litigation over the drugs used in executions and increased use of life without parole as a sentencing option.
Federal judge blocks 6 executions in 10 days in Arkansas
Here are the 8 inmates Arkansas planned to execute in 11 days
Arkansas judge blocks state from using lethal drug
Prisoner executions nationwide have plummeted over the past two decades, decreasing nearly every year since 1999, when 98 prisoners were executed. There were 20 prisoner executions nationwide in 2016, the fewest since 1991.
STORY FROM EMBARK
Calling all frequent travelers! Join our new travel insights panel, Embark
The growth of life-without-parole as a sentencing option in many states, as well as the high cost of prosecuting a capital case, has led prosecutors to push for the death penalty in fewer cases, said Michael Benza, senior instructor of law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
“If you think of the death penalty as sort of a freeway, it’s actually becoming more of a country lane with everybody peeling off into all kinds of different non-capital ways,” he said.
Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham University School of Law, said the use of DNA evidence has led to closer scrutiny of death penalty cases by both the legasystem and the general public.
“We’ve seen a precipitous decline since 1999 and probably a lot of that had to do with these innocence cases,” she said. “Attorneys were starting to introduce DNA into court, and you had these cases showing that people were innocent.”
Although lethal injection became the nation’s primary method of execution in the 1990s, Denno said it is only in recent years that sustained challenges by death row inmates and death penalty opponents have gained traction in the court system
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