WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 (UPI) — Use of capital punishment in the United States has fallen to levels not seen since 1991, a study from the Death Penalty Information Center found.
The Washington-based non-profit organization’s report, released Wednesday, said 28 executions took place in 2015, down from 35 in 2014 and the lowest number since 1991. Forty-nine new death sentences were imposed, down 33 percent from 2014, and executions took place six states, the lowest number since 1988.
Most executions in the country occurred in Texas, Missouri and Georgia, and two-thirds of death sentences came from the 2 percent of U.S. counties which have sentenced the majority of death-row inmates.
The number of those scheduled for execution fell to less than 3,000 for the first time since 1995, the report said, citing the NAACP Legal Defense Fund; California has the most by far, with 746. At least 70 people on death row received stays, commutations or reprieves in 2015, 2.5 times the number of those executed. Six death-row prisoners were exonerated.
“The national trend towards abolition of the death penalty in law or practice continued: Nebraska legislatively abolished the death penalty; the Connecticut Supreme Court declared its death penalty unconstitutional; and Pennsylvania joined three other states in imposing gubernatorial moratoria on executions,” the 16-page report reads.
Death sentences have slowed to their lowest level in 15 years.
“Most years do not show the same dramatic declines in every measure that we have seen in 2015, but the overall pattern and long-term trend have been away from the death penalty. Even states that executed prisoners in 2015 show signs of diminished use of the death penalty,” the report concludes.
Comment count on this article reflects comments made on Breitbart.com and Facebook. Visit Breitbart's Facebook Page.