Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Report: 5th Straight Year With Under 30 Executions in US
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
December 17, 2019

Share

WASHINGTON — Fewer than 30 people were executed in the United States and under 50 new death sentences were imposed for the fifth straight year, part of a continuing decline in capital punishment that saw only a few states carry out executions, a new report issued Tuesday said.

“The death penalty is disappearing from whole regions of the country and eroding in others, but the death penalty is persisting among outlier jurisdictions.” — Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center
But even as death row populations were dropping in most of the 29 states that still have the death penalty, the Trump administration tried to restart executions on the federal level and a more conservative Supreme Court appeared less willing to grant death-row inmates last-minute reprieves.
“The death penalty is disappearing from whole regions of the country and eroding in others, but the death penalty is persisting among outlier jurisdictions,” said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which produced the look at the death penalty in 2019.
Twenty of the 22 executions in 2019 took place in five Southern states, led by Texas with 9, the center said. The others are Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee. Missouri and South Dakota each executed one inmate.
Elsewhere in the country, New Hampshire became the 21st state to abolish the death penalty, while California Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed a formal moratorium on executions in a state with the largest death row population, although the last execution in California took place nearly 14 years ago.
 

‘We Owe It to the Victims and Their Families’

Also for the fifth straight year, no state west of Texas carried out an execution. There are now 32 states that either have no death penalty or have not executed anyone in more than a decade.

“The Justice Department upholds the rule of law — and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system.” — Attorney General William Barr 
But at the federal level, where the last execution took place in 2003, Attorney General William Barr announced in July that federal executions would resume beginning in December. President Donald Trump has long been a proponent of the death penalty.
“The Justice Department upholds the rule of law — and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system,” Barr said at the time.
A federal judge put a hold on the scheduled executions, and the Supreme Court turned away the administration’s plea to begin conducting lethal injection executions at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Barr’s push for new executions showed that the administration “is going to be out of step with the American public and what is happening in most of the states around the country,” Dunham said. The Death Penalty Information Center takes no position on capital punishment, but is critical of the manner in which it has been administered.
The justices would not allow federal executions in 2019, but the court otherwise signaled its impatience with last-minute efforts to keep inmates from being put to death.

Texas Continues to Be the Leader in Carrying out Executions

“Last-minute stays should be the extreme exception, not the norm, and ‘the last-minute nature of an application’ that ‘could have been brought’ earlier, or ‘an applicant’s attempt at manipulation,’ ‘may be grounds for denial of a stay,’” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in clearing the way for Missouri to execute an inmate with an unusual medical condition. The court’s five conservative justices were in the majority, its four liberals, in dissent.
While Texas continues to be the leader in carrying out executions, the number of new death sentences there has dropped markedly in recent years, with just four for the year. Florida and Ohio each had six inmates newly sentenced to death, among the 33 death sentences recorded so far this year. Several capital sentencing proceedings are ongoing and could change the final number, the report said.
Overall, death sentences are down more than 80 percent from the 1990s, Dunham said. Fewer jurisdictions are seeking capital punishment and juries are more willing to sentence defendants to life terms with no chance of parole, he said.
But even with the decrease, some of the sentences were troublesome, the report said. One example it cited was Tiffany Moss, who was sentenced to death in Georgia for starving her stepdaughter to death. The judge allowed Moss to represent herself at trial, despite evidence that she had brain damage that affected her judgment and decision-making, the report said. Moss did not make an opening statement, closing argument or call witnesses.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Officer Arrested on Sexual Battery Charges

DON'T MISS

Mayor Baraka of Newark, New Jersey, Arrested at ICE Detention Center He Has Been Protesting

DON'T MISS

FDA Will Allow Three New Color Additives Made From Minerals, Algae and Flower Petals

DON'T MISS

Pentagon Directs Military to Pull Library Books That Address Diversity, Anti-Racism, Gender Issues

DON'T MISS

Fresno Pays the Most for Electricity. What Are Lawmakers Doing About It?

DON'T MISS

Freed Palestinian Student Accuses Columbia University of Inciting Violence

DON'T MISS

First At-Home Test Kit for Cervical Cancer Approved by the FDA, Company Says

DON'T MISS

US to Accept White South African Refugees While Other Programs Remain Paused

DON'T MISS

15 States Sue Over Trump’s Move to Fast-Track Oil and Gas Projects via His ‘Energy Emergency’ Order

DON'T MISS

New Fresno Judge Baloian Uses Experience on Both Sides of Legal Table

UP NEXT

Leo XIV’s Service to Poor Propelled Him to Papacy, Cardinals Say

UP NEXT

Nitrous Oxide Recreational Use Risks: Brain Damage, Death, and Easy Access

UP NEXT

Former Supreme Court Justice David Souter, a Republican Who Became a Liberal Darling, Dies at 85

UP NEXT

Pope Leo XIV Celebrates First Mass as Pope and Calls His Election Both a Cross and a Blessing

UP NEXT

Selma Bear Sighting Prompts Police, Wildlife Response

UP NEXT

Republicans’ Trust in Media Increases Following Trump’s Return to White House

UP NEXT

Rejoicing Peruvians See Pope Leo XIV as One of Their Own After His Many Years in Peru

UP NEXT

Shohei Ohtani Could Have Landed 15-Year Deal, Agent Says, but He Didn’t Want to Risk Skills Decline

UP NEXT

Joe Biden Blames Kamala Harris’ Loss on Sexism and Racism and Rejects Concerns About His Age

UP NEXT

Before Tariff Price Increases, Mark Cuban Suggests Stocking Up on These Items

Pentagon Directs Military to Pull Library Books That Address Diversity, Anti-Racism, Gender Issues

39 minutes ago

Fresno Pays the Most for Electricity. What Are Lawmakers Doing About It?

40 minutes ago

Freed Palestinian Student Accuses Columbia University of Inciting Violence

41 minutes ago

First At-Home Test Kit for Cervical Cancer Approved by the FDA, Company Says

44 minutes ago

US to Accept White South African Refugees While Other Programs Remain Paused

48 minutes ago

15 States Sue Over Trump’s Move to Fast-Track Oil and Gas Projects via His ‘Energy Emergency’ Order

53 minutes ago

New Fresno Judge Baloian Uses Experience on Both Sides of Legal Table

57 minutes ago

Leo XIV’s Service to Poor Propelled Him to Papacy, Cardinals Say

1 hour ago

The State Law Taking a Financial Toll on California Budgets

1 hour ago

Iran to Send Russia Launchers for Short-Range Missiles, Sources Say

2 hours ago

Fresno Police Officer Arrested on Sexual Battery Charges

A Fresno police officer has been arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor sexual battery following an investigation into an off-duty incident ea...

24 minutes ago

https://www.communitymedical.org/thecause?utm_source=Misfit+Digital&utm_medium=GVWire+Banner+Ads&utm_campaign=Branding+2025&utm_content=thecause
Photo of the front of Fresno Police Headquarters
24 minutes ago

Fresno Police Officer Arrested on Sexual Battery Charges

32 minutes ago

Mayor Baraka of Newark, New Jersey, Arrested at ICE Detention Center He Has Been Protesting

35 minutes ago

FDA Will Allow Three New Color Additives Made From Minerals, Algae and Flower Petals

39 minutes ago

Pentagon Directs Military to Pull Library Books That Address Diversity, Anti-Racism, Gender Issues

40 minutes ago

Fresno Pays the Most for Electricity. What Are Lawmakers Doing About It?

41 minutes ago

Freed Palestinian Student Accuses Columbia University of Inciting Violence

44 minutes ago

First At-Home Test Kit for Cervical Cancer Approved by the FDA, Company Says

48 minutes ago

US to Accept White South African Refugees While Other Programs Remain Paused

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend