US Death Sentences Decline Sharply as Public Attitudes Shift

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 small fraction of the peak of 315 in 1996, according to a report from the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit organization that opposes capital punishment and tracks the issue. “I think we are watching a major political...

© La Voix de l'Amérique - mercredi 21 décembre 2016