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WASHINGTON, DC -- Executions and death sentences are at an all time low this year, according to a new report by the Death Penalty Information Center.
That report found 43 death row inmates have been executed so far in the U.S. this year. That’s the exact same number as last year. “But last year there were 13 state’s that carried out executions. This year, there were only nine,” said Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Richard Dieter. And of those nine, he said “Only four accounted for about 79% of the executions. Mississippi was one of them.”
Dieter is the lead author of this new report, which found Mississippi did execute 6 death row inmates this year. Enough for the state to tie for second in executions, just behind Texas. But Dieter thinks it’s just a one-year phenomenon. “These (Mississippi) cases finished their appeals. It’s not necessarily a surge in public demand for executions,” he explained.
The report also found only two people were sentenced to die in Mississippi this year, making it even less likely that the state will see this many executions again in one year
