Death penalty on the decline: There will be fewer than 30 executions for the 5th straight year, a new report says

Death sentences and executions remained at near-historic lows this year while calls for exoneration gripped the nation, according to a new report released Tuesday.

States in 2019 executed 22 prisoners, marking the second fewest in almost three decades, according to data from the Death Penalty Information Center. This will be the fifth consecutive year with fewer than 30 executions and fewer than 50 death sentences, the report said.

A shift in public opinion has accompanied the decline, said Robert Dunham, the center's executive director. For the first time since Gallup began asking for public opinion in 1985, the majority of respondents said they prefer life imprisonment over the death penalty to punish murder.

"We've gotten to the point where Americans accept as a fact that the death penalty risks wrongly convicting and potentially executing people who are innocent," Dunham told USA TODAY. "This year dramatically illustrates that issue."

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The planned execution of Rodney Reed, in particular, drew nationwide attention, with celebrities such as Kim Kardashian West backing Reed's claims of innocence. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas also supported Reed, noting the death row inmate attracted a "remarkable bipartisan coalition."

Two former death-row prisoners were also exonerated in 2019, the report said, bringing the national total for executions of the innocent to 166 documented cases.

The Department of Justice's attempt this year to resume federal executions did not influence an overall decline of the death penalty, Dunham said. New Hampshire became the 21st state to abolish the death penalty and California issued a moratorium on executions, joining three other states. For the fifth consecutive year, no state west of Texas executed anyone, the report said.

Meanwhile, a court ruling temporarily halted planned federal executions and the Supreme Court decided to let the injunction stand this month.

Death sentences reached a peak in the 1990s, according to the report, with more than 300 per year from 1994 through 1996. A total of about 36 death sentences are expected to be issued this year, a more than 87% decline from the peak.

There were 25 death-row inmates executed in 2018.

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Reasons for declining public support of the death penalty, Dunham said, include pro-life activists who believe the government should not kill people. Others oppose the death penalty because they believe courts impose it an arbitrary or discriminatory way.

The death sentence given to Tiffany Moss exemplifies issues with capital punishment, Dunham said. A Georgia trial court allowed Moss, who has documented brain damage, to represent herself and ultimately present no defense.

"Those types of procedural problems continue to undermine public faith in the ability of the courts to handle death penalty cases fairly," Dunham said. "That's another reason why we're seeing people move away from the death penalty across the political spectrum."

Contributing: Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Death penalty remains at near-historic lows in 2019, new report shows