Death penalty losing its appeal in U.S.

The death penalty could be on the wane in the United States, where a study released Thursday shows death sentences in 2008 are at more than a 3-decade low, and executions the fewest since 1994.

The decline comes despite an U.S. Supreme Court ruling in April that lifted a de facto moratorium on executions by upholding the lethal injection process in Kentucky.

Death penalty opponents had predicted the ruling would lead to a spike in executions as states "caught up."

The report from the Death Penalty Information Center shows Texas remains by far the state that has most applied the death penalty, executing 18.

But Ohio distinguished itself by being the only state outside the South to carry out executions - accounting for 2 of the 37 this year in all states.

"We were surprised that the surge did not happen," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington-based centre, which works for the abolition of the death penalty.

"Courts, legislatures, and the public are increasingly skeptical about the death penalty, whether those concerns are based on innocence, inadequate legal representation, costs or general feeling that the system isn't fair or accurate."

But death penalty expert Richard Bonnie of the University of Virginia said the procedural complexity of setting an execution date means a certain delay was inevitable.

"It's just not a process that will happen overnight," he said.

More notable as a trend indicator, he said, is the continuing decline in the number of death sentences handed down, since they were not interrupted by the de facto moratorium.

The DPIC report projects 2008 will close with 111 death sentences - the lowest number since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. That translates into steep declines in the rate of sentencing everywhere except in courts under federal jurisdiction, the report adds.

"What accounts for this larger trend toward decline in death sentences is that the intensity of public support is less(ening)," Bonnie said.

"That's also true among politicians; it's not a big issue in elections now" amid fairly stable crime rates after declines over the past decade.

But concentrated public support for the death penalty could rise again if there is a sharp increase in crime rates, Bonnie warned.

Beyond Texas and Ohio, there were 4 executions in Virginia, 3 in each of Georgia and South Carolina, 2 in each of Florida, Mississippi and Oklahoma, and 1 in Kentucky. Legal challenges have imposed an effective moratorium in California, which is traditionally known as an execution state.

The report says the rise in sentencing under federal jurisdiction comes in the wake of a "greatly expanded" federal death penalty law in 1994.

It adds there has been an "emphasis on using the federal law more broadly" since President George W. Bush entered the White House.

Among other statistics: executions peaked at 98 in 1999; there were 3,309 prisoners on death row in January this year; the average time spent on death row for those eventually executed grew to 12.7 years in 2007; and public support for the death penalty fell from 71 % in 1999 to 64 % this year.

Source: Canwest News Service, December 12, 2008