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U.S. | 'I comfort death row inmates in their final moments - the execution room is like a house of horrors'

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Reverend Jeff Hood, 40, wants to help condemned inmates 'feel human again' and vows to continue his efforts to befriend murderers in spite of death threats against his family A reverend who has made it his mission to comfort death row inmates in their final days has revealed the '"moral torture" his endeavor entails. Reverend Dr. Jeff Hood, 40, lives with his wife and five children in Little Rock, Arkansas. But away from his normal home life, he can suddenly find himself holding the shoulder of a murderer inside an execution chamber, moments away from the end of their life. 

Alabama is near the top in imposing, conducting the death penalty

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BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Alabama ranks second in the nation for the number of executions it conducted in 2011 and is tied for third in death sentences imposed this year, statistics compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center show.

"Alabama is one of the leading death penalty states in the country," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington-based DPIC. "It is a leader in executions and death sentences, both in absolute numbers and per capita."

Alabama ranks 23rd nationally in population but has the country's fifth-largest death-row population. Its 55 executions since 1976, when a four-year national moratorium on the death penalty was lifted, puts Alabama sixth among states allowing capital punishment.

Alabama put six murderers to death by lethal injection in 2011, accounting for 14 percent of the 43 executions nationwide, according to the annual year-end report by the clearinghouse on death penalty statistics.

Texas, with 13 executions this year, led the nation. No more executions are set this year in any of the 34 states that allow capital punishment, the DPIC said.


Source: al.com, December 28, 2011
Location: Alabama, USA
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