The number of inmates sentenced to death hits a 35 years low in Texas

Good news. Since the option of Life Without the Option of Parole has been put into place in Texas in 2005, the Los Angeles Times points out that the number of death sentences has decreased by 40 per cent (ie 2005 - 2009) compared to the four years before). Prosecutors have been pushing for fewer death sentences and juries have become less willing to give them.

Nine people were sentenced to death in Texas, in 2009 (as of December 14th), when juries sent 13 people to death row last year and 49 people 15 years ago.

"With life without parole being a viable option now, [juries] feel a lot more comfortable that that person is not going to be let out back into society," Tarrant County Dist. Atty. Joe Shannon said. "We are probably waiving the death penalty more times than we used to because we're trying to forecast the outcome of the case."

But others, such as Democratic state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., author of the life-without-parole law, said prosecutors were trying to blame it for their troubles getting Texans to trust a scandal-ridden system. "It isn't life without parole that has weakened the death penalty," Lucio said. "It is a growing lack of belief that our system is fair."

A poll from Rasmussen Reports released this month found that, indeed,  73% of Americans are at least somewhat concerned that some people may be executed for crimes they did not commit, as numerous reports of death row inmates being exonerated have surfaced in the U.S. in recent years.

People are obviously concerned about innocence," stated Scott Phillips said, an associate professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Denver.

They are also concerned about cost: In the recession, the higher costs of pursuing the death penalty have become harder to ignore, and life without parole is a far cheaper alternative. Death penalty trials are longer, with a punishment phase that takes more time and appeals that typically go on for years. In this context, pursuing life without parole from the outset can save millions of dollars in legal costs and settle cases quickly.

Would Texas become more reasonable? Does this reflect a general trend in the US?

Unfortunately, according to NPR, the Justice department approval rate for prosecutors to seek the death penalty under the Obama administration is still sensibly the same as under the Bush administration.

A disappointing fact, that shall not prevent us from having hope, though: The clock is ticking and the days of the death penalty are now counted.