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A greater number of Americans now believe that the death penalty, for which support has declined over the years, is being used unfairly. That's the conclusion of a new report that found the maximum sentence is increasingly being rejected in the United States.
But experts say it is not clear whether waning public support and a decline in the number of executions and death sentences will eventually result in the abolition of the penalty in the United States.
" There are some scholars who are optimistic that the death penalty will be completely abolished soon. I think it is more likely to continue to lose ground. But I think it's less likely that it will disappear completely in the near future ," said Eric Berger, a law professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
In 2023, there were 24 executions in the United States; the most recent occurred Thursday in Oklahoma. Also, 21 people were sentenced to death during 2023. This is the ninth year in a row that fewer than 30 people were executed and fewer than 50 people received the death penalty, according to the report by the Death Penalty Information Center. with headquarters in the capital Washington.
Only five states carried out executions this year: Texas, Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma and Alabama. This is the lowest number in twenty years.
However, in some countries the death penalty remains deeply rooted. Earlier this year, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed two new death penalty laws. One law allows for the death penalty in child rape cases, although there is a United States Supreme Court ruling that prohibits the maximum penalty for such cases. The other law cancels the criterion that there must be a unanimous decision by the jury to impose the death penalty.
Some states are having trouble finding the chemicals used in executions, and some are exploring new and unproven methods of execution, or bringing back old methods.
Alabama has set a January date for the first hydrogen gas execution in the United States. In July, Idaho became the fifth state to authorize executions by firing squad. The last time a convict was executed by firing squad in the United States was in 2010.
According to the report, most American states, 29 of them, have already abolished the death penalty or suspended executions./ VOA
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