A Downward Trend | Suite101.com

Throughout the 1990's, an average of 290 defendants were sentenced to die each year. However, that number has dropped fairly dramatically since the year 2000. The average over the last four years is 174 and last year's 143 death sentences were the lowest number handed down since 1977. Likewise, the rate of executions has fallen off. After topping out at 98 executions in 1999, the U.S. averaged only 67 executions per year between 2001 and 2003.

Is this drop tied to the national decline in the murder rate? Or are we seeing a shift towards the anti-death penalty movement?

Most likely, the answer is none of the above. Although the murder rate has decreased, that decline began in the early 1990's, while the drop in death sentences and executions has occurred in the last couple of years. And as far as the abolition movement gaining ground, Americans still overwhelmingly support capital punishment by almost a 2-to-1 margin. Instead, the answer to why we're seeing fewer death sentences and executions can be found in recent changes and increased scrutiny within the legal system and a new awareness of possibly executing innocent people.

In 2002, the U.S. Supreme court ruled on two landmark cases that have affected the implementation of the death penalty. In the first case of Atkins v. Virginia, the Supreme Court ruled that the states could not execute mentally retarded inmates. Not only has this ruling cut down on the number of executions, but it also has provided defendants and their counsel with another weapon against the death penalty in capital trials. The Supreme Court ruled in the second case, Ring v. Arizona, that having a judge sentence an inmate to death violates a defendant's constitutional right. A jury is now required to decide on aggravating circumstances in order to elevate murder to capital murder. As a result of Ring v. Arizona, the number of death sentences has dropped due to the reluctance of many juries to unanimously vote for capital punishment.

Prosecutors also play a large role in the decline in death sentences and executions. Whereas seeking the death penalty was once a common occurrence, prosecutors have been much more selective in the past couple of years. The trend among prosecutors is to save the death penalty for the "worst of the worst" cases. Part of the reason for this may be because two out of every three death penalty sentences are overturned on appeal, according to a 2000 report by Columbia University. Prosecutors "know that the [death] sentences are not going to be carried out," and thus are unwilling to push for the death penalty, says Kent Scheidegger, legal director for the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation.