2016 marks low point for death sentences since 1970s
WASHINGTON — Only 30 people were sentenced to death in the United States this year, the lowest number since the early 1970s and a further sign of the steady decline in use of the death penalty.
The number is a sharp drop from the 49 death sentences last year and just a fraction of the peak of 315 in 1996, according to a report from the Death Penalty Information Center, a non-profit organization that opposes capital punishment and tracks the issue.
“I think we are watching a major political climate change concerning capital punishment and it’s reflected among reduced death sentences across the country,” said Robert Dunham, the group’s executive director.
The growing reluctance of juries to sentence defendants to death is one of several factors contributing to the overall drop in executions. Twenty people were executed this year, the fewest since 1991, when 14 people were put to death. The high-water mark was in 1999, when there were 98 executions.