Death penalty hits its lowest point in the USA since 1976

According to a report by the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), 2009 had the lowest number of death sentences handed down since the death penalty was brought back in 1976.
This means judges and jury members gave the death penalty to less convicted criminals in the past year, while prosecutors gave out less death sentences.

Only 106 people were sentenced to death which is significantly less than ten years ago (284 sentences in 1999), says the report. It is the 7th straight year of decline and 60% lower than in the nineties.

The report says that the recent economic downturn has caused many prosecutors and states to turn away from the death penalty as an option. According to a poll reported by DPIC, police chiefs saw the death penalty as the least effective way to deter people from committing crimes.

Texas, which leads the nation in executions, had a murder rate in 2008 of 5.6 per 100,000 population - the same rate as Pennsylvania. New Jersey and New York, which no longer have the death penalty, have murder rates of 4.3 per 100,000. Massachusetts, also without capital punishment, has a murder rate of 2.6 per 100,000.

"Practically, this is a government program that isn't working," said DPIC director Richard Dieter in an NPR report. Dieter said the U.S. has moved away from death penalty sentencing due to costs.

Dieter also notes that exonerations have become more prominent in the U.S. for capital cases, which have influenced the decisions made by juries and prosecutors. Last year, there were nine death row exonerations.

Since the use of DNA evidence has become more prevalent, it is growing clearer with each passing year that the death penalty is unreliable. Since 1973, 139 people have been freed from death row, primarily due to to irrefutable scientific evidence of their innocence. 91 of those condemned prisoners have been released since 1993.

9 men were freed from death row last year alone, after spending a combined 121 years behind bars for crimes they did not commit.

A frightening number. 139 exonerated prisoners for 1087 executions since 1976: This translates into 1.3 prisoner wrongfully convicted for each 10 prisoners executed. When considering that nearly 3300 prisoners are currently on death row in the US, over 400 could be actually innocent, and may or may not be executed. How many more do the US need to definitely abolish the death penalty?