According to a new report issued by the Death Penalty Information Center, the number of death penalty sentences issued and executions carried out in the US both dropped to historic lows in 2015.
The fewest number of states since 1992 – only six ‒ executed a total of 28 death row inmates in 2015.
Nationally, the number of new death sentences dropped from a peak of 315 in 1996 to a projected low of 49 in 2015, a 33 percent decline from what was already a 40-year low in 2014. A total of 14 states and the federal government issued those sentences.
Here in Florida the numbers are down in 2015 compared to the two previous years, where Rick Scott has been very aggressive in enforcing the death penalty.
Joining us on the program today by Mark Elliot, Executive Director with Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
